Remember when we had to guess the silt density on the Columbia River?

I was on the 'River Queen' near Astoria in 2012 when a new sensor gave us a real-time readout, and we cut our pump time by almost an hour. Anyone still working a dredge that doesn't have that kind of gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

finleyl3913d ago

We were running blind on the Willamette until the boss finally sprung for a density meter. The guesswork was killing our schedule. Having that number right in front of you changes everything, you just set the pump and forget it. It paid for itself in fuel savings alone within a few months. I can't imagine going back to the old way now.

king.val12d ago

That 2015 upgrade @sean854 mentioned is about right for a lot of smaller outfits. But the real-time gear was on big commercial dredges way earlier, like the "Pacific Titan" had it by 2004. The tech trickled down slowly, so a lot of crews were still guessing silt density long after it was solved.

sean85413d ago

We ran the old way until 2015 and man, that upgrade was a total game-changer for us too.