Remember when dredges were all mechanical controls?

Last month I was helping a younger guy troubleshoot an old Ellicott on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge. He couldn't figure out why the ladder would drop so slow compared to the new stuff. I told him about running a 6-inch hydraulic dredge back in '99 where you had to feel every lever and listen to the engine pitch to know if you were cutting too deep. Now everything is joysticks and screens, which is fine I guess, but man I miss that direct feedback. Any of you old-timers find it harder to train new guys who never worked with manual controls?

2 comments

2 Comments

mia_singh2421d agoMost Upvoted

The other side of this that doesn't get talked about is how the lack of physical feedback changes how new guys learn to read the material itself. Back when you had to feel the vibration through the ladder and hear the pump struggling, you learned to recognize different bottom types without even looking at a screen. Now they stare at a digital display showing things like "density" and "velocity" numbers, but they can't tell you if it's hard clay or soft sand just from how the machine feels. That sixth sense for what's happening under the water is something you can't program into a computer.

taylor8221d ago

Hear that, that's the real training they're losing.