Saw a floating dredge on the Mississippi near Winona, never seen one with a sorting table like that

Was driving along Highway 61 last Tuesday and spotted this older rig working a sandbar just south of the lock and dam. What caught my eye was the sorting table mounted off the stern, looked homemade out of angle iron and expanded mesh. They were pulling out stuff bigger than fist size, probably cobble or debris, before it hit the pump. I've run a plain cutterhead for 12 years and never thought to add a pre-sort stage like that. Seems like it would save wear on the impeller if you're in a rocky stretch. Anybody tried something similar on a smaller setup? How much downtime did it add per shift?

1 comments

1 Comment

finleyh8911d ago

You ever just watch another operator's rig and feel like an idiot for not thinking of it yourself? That pre-sort table is the kind of hack that makes total sense once you see it, especially if they're working a sandbar with any kind of mixed material. I bet it cuts way down on impeller chatter, and honestly, five minutes of clearing that mesh every couple hours beats pulling the whole pump apart. I've seen guys run a grizzly bar setup up top, but never a proper stern table like that. If it saves one rebuild a season, it's worth the downtime.