Back on the Columbia River, new guys keep running the cutterhead too fast in silt.

It just churns everything into a cloud and you lose your cut. I learned to ease it down after watching a 12-hour shift turn into a 24-hour one. Anyone else see this with the newer electric drives?

4 comments

4 Comments

mary_west2mo ago

That 12-hour shift turning into 24 sounds brutal. Did the old-timers ever explain why the new drives make it easier to run too fast?

hannah4002mo ago

Oh man, it's the lack of physical feedback. Old drives had a real rumble you could feel in the floor when you pushed them. New ones are so smooth and quiet, the only speed check is a tiny number on a screen you're too busy to watch. You lose that gut sense of going too hard.

luna_wright2mo ago

My 2003 Freightliner had a vibration that made my teeth hurt at 68 mph. I'll take the quiet and just watch the tach.

margareto261d ago

Yeah, didn't the old timers say something about the new engines being so isolated from the cab that you can't feel the RPMs in your seat anymore? I remember one guy telling me how the old mechanical engines would shake your fillings loose at high revs, so you just knew when to back off. Now it's all computer controlled and smooth as butter, so your only warning is the speeding ticket in the mail.