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Just realized I'd been running my cutterhead way too shallow in sand for 8 years
Was chatting with an old salt at the dock last season and he pointed out my discharge looked too clean for the amount of material I was pulling. Checked my draft gauges and sure enough I was skimming the top six inches instead of digging in proper. Anyone else get years into a habit before some random conversation tipped them off?
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jamesf293mo ago
I used to think deeper was always better until I had a neighbor on the canal mention his neighbor was pulling way more sand than me. Checked my setup and he was right, I had it set way too deep. Now I keep it at a more medium depth instead.
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nathan1003mo ago
Ended up doing the same thing myself a few seasons back. I was running about 16 inches on my main setup and a guy I know who dredges the river said I was just wasting fuel and churning up everything underneath. Dropped it to 9 or 10 inches and my sandbag count went up almost immediately. Funny how just a few inches can make or break your whole day.
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jessica7073mo ago
That 16 to 9 inch drop is a pretty big swing though. Makes me wonder if the whole "a few inches makes or breaks your day" thing is a bit overblown. I've run everything from 8 to 14 inches on the same stretch of river and my count was pretty much the same, just different sizes. Maybe it depends on the bottom composition or the specific stretch. I get that people have their pet theories but I bet half the time it's just the water flow that day.
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