Had a wild one yesterday when the main winch on the 'Mudskipper' decided to start singing opera.

We were pulling up the ladder on a routine maintenance pull in the channel near Bayport. All of a sudden, this high-pitched whine starts coming from the winch motor, like a soprano hitting a note she shouldn't. It got louder and louder for about 30 seconds before the whole thing just seized up. Turns out a seal failed and let a bunch of fine silt into the gearbox. It sounded like a dying robot cat. Had to call a buddy with a spare motor to get us moving again. Anyone ever had a piece of gear fail in a way that was just plain weird?

4 comments

4 Comments

wadew512mo ago

Man, it's always the tiny seals that cause the biggest messes.

janah832mo ago

Had a hydraulic pump on a crane do that once. Sounded like a banshee for a full minute before it blew a hose. That silt is a killer. You gotta check those shaft seals every 250 hours, especially in muddy water. A failed one will trash the whole gearbox in no time.

miles_hall2mo ago

Yeah, my buddy's dredge pump ate itself last year from a bad seal. The grit just sandblasted the internals once it got past the barrier. He was down for weeks waiting on parts.

mary_west2d ago

Janah83, you said "shaft seals every 250 hours" and I gotta call that out gently. In heavy silt like we get around bay channels, 250 hours might be a bit optimistic. I've seen those same seals start leaking around 180-200 hours in dirty water. The grit just works its way in faster than you'd think, especially if you're pulling heavy loads that flex the shaft a little. I'm not saying you're wrong, just that 250 is more of a "perfect conditions" number, not a real-world one for muddy work.