Remember when everyone said GPS dredge positioning was just a gimmick?

I ran a ladder dredge on the Ohio for years and thought my sextant and markers were fine. Then I tried a Trimble setup on a channel job in 2018 and cut my survey time by half a day every week. Anyone still running the old way, or has GPS won you over too?

3 comments

3 Comments

jennifer693mo ago

Cut my survey time by half a day" is the real selling point. I held out forever with my old methods, but that kind of time saving is impossible to argue with. It just makes the whole job less of a grind.

leoward3mo ago

Hold up, @jennifer69, but isn't it really more like saving a few hours? Half a day sounds huge, but a full survey shift is what, eight hours? So you're saying the new method takes four hours instead. That's still amazing, but the real win is getting home before dark, right?

cooper.nathan2mo ago

My Trimble locked up twice in one shift on the Missouri last fall and I had to pull out my old notebook and compass bearings just to finish the day. GPS is great until the signal drops or the battery dies, and then you're stuck with a fancy brick while the old school guys are still running cuts and fills without skipping a beat. I've seen guys lose a whole morning trying to get a base station to talk to the rover, meanwhile I'm already halfway through my first section because I set my range poles before sunrise. Plus every GPS unit I've touched needs constant updates and subscription fees, my sextant and a good pair of eyes never asked me for a credit card. There's something to be said for gear that works every time no matter what, even if it means an extra hour on the water.