Why does nobody talk about swing radius when planning a project?

I was running a job on a tight canal in Louisiana last month and totally misjudged how much room my dredge needed to swing. The cutter head kept hitting the bank on one side while I was trying to work a turn. My coworker who has been doing this for 20 years just shook his head and said "you gotta account for the tail swing too" and I felt like an idiot. I had been focusing on the cutter depth and pump pressure but forgot about the simple geometry of the barge. Now I always pace off the full width before anchoring. Has anyone else found themselves stuck because they didnt leave enough room to swing out?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_john5d ago

Buddy of mine tried to squeeze a mini excavator between two trailers on a cleanup job. Got the bucket stuck halfway through a swing and had to call a wrecker. He said he learned more about swing radius in ten minutes than in ten years of running equipment.

finleyf885d ago

That "learned more in ten minutes" part hits hard. A buddy of mine did almost the same thing with his skid steer. He turned too tight between some dumpsters and the bucket snagged a chain link fence, bent the whole panel. Sometimes you just have to get stuck to really get it.