Just realized everyone pushes for the new 12-inch cutter heads, but our old 8-inch on the 'Mississippi Queen' moves more material per hour.

We ran side by side with a new dredge on the Atchafalaya project last month, and our smaller head with a higher pump speed moved 15% more sand in a 10 hour shift. The bigger heads just clog more often in that heavy clay mix... they look good on paper but don't always work in the real muck. Has anyone else found that simpler, older gear sometimes just works better?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley_gonzalez491mo ago

That "moves more material per hour" claim is a bit tricky. A bigger head can move more material in theory, but only if the whole system can keep up. Your higher pump speed is the real key, it's what's pushing that extra 15%. The bigger head probably just couldn't feed the pump fast enough in that clay.

taylorshah1mo ago

Yeah I always thought bigger was better but this test proved me wrong.

mary_west1mo ago

15% more sand with an 8-inch head? That's wild, I would have bet money the bigger one would win every time.