Cutterhead jammed up bad last week on a job in Mobile Bay

Packed sand and oyster shells locked the thing solid around 3 PM, had to shut down and dive in with a pry bar for 2 hours to clear it. Anyone else deal with shell buildup this time of year and found a trick to keep it from setting up?

3 comments

3 Comments

river_allen10d ago

Man that oyster shell and sand mix is a NIGHTMARE. Had the same thing happen last fall in the delta, cutterhead locked up solid with that gritty paste. I actually tried something a bit different - I backed the swing away just a foot or two and worked the ladder up and down a few times real slow. The suction from the pump actually pulled enough material out from behind the cutter that it started spinning again after about 20 minutes. Saved me from having to dive on it or pull the head. Those shells pack in like concrete but sometimes a little gap is all you need to let the water flow break it loose.

logan_ellis10d ago

That sand and shell mix is worse than straight rock in my experience. I'd rather pull the cutterhead and clean it on deck than fight it underwater with a pry bar again.

jake98610d ago

Funny you say that, but I actually think pulling the cutterhead to clean it on deck makes things worse half the time. You're burning daylight getting it unbolted and lifted, plus you risk dropping something overboard in the chop. I've had way better luck just working the pry bar from the barge with the pump running slow. The trick I found is to hit the jam with a stiff blast of water from the jetting line first (before you even touch the cutter), that usually breaks the sand shell matrix enough to let the cutter spin free without a full mechanical dig-out. Not saying it works every time, just that pulling the head should be the last resort, not the first move.