Picked a bucket ladder over a cutter suction for a muddy river job

Had a job last month clearing out a silted-up channel near Baton Rouge. The boss wanted to use the cutter suction because it's faster, but I went with the bucket ladder instead. The mud was so thick and packed with roots that the cutter kept clogging up every 20 minutes. Bucket ladder just chewed through it all day without a single stall. Has anyone else had to fight for a specific rig on site when the foreman wanted something different?

2 comments

2 Comments

leelewis29d ago

Man, that brings back a memory. I had a similar fight a few years back on a job in the delta. The foreman was dead set on using an excavator with a long reach arm for dredging out some heavy clay, said it was faster. I told him that clay would just stick to the bucket like glue and he'd be down cleaning it out every 15 minutes. He didn't listen and sure enough, we spent half the first day digging mud out of the excavator bucket. Had to switch to a dragline before we even got started. Sometimes the old stuff really is the best stuff.

dylan_bell29d ago

Whoa, wait... you fought for a bucket ladder over a cutter suction? That's wild. I've seen people argue for different gear but that's a bold move on a muddy river job. Those bucket ladders are tough old machines but most guys think they're too slow for the money. Glad it paid off for you though, nothing worse than stopping every 20 minutes to unclog a cutter head...