Working the old dredge in Savannah and the mud there is something else

We were on the river near the old port, clearing a channel that hadn't been touched in maybe twenty years. The silt was so fine and packed, it kept clogging the pump screen every forty-five minutes like clockwork. We ended up running the cutter head slower and adding more water to the mix, which helped a ton. Anyone else dealt with that kind of sticky Georgia mud and found a better fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_david2mo agoMost Upvoted

Ever try adding a bit of bentonite to the slurry? That worked for us when we hit that same gluey mess.

terry_shah172mo ago

How much bentonite did you end up using per gallon? We tried it once but added too much and it just set up like concrete in the line.

cameron_chen631mo ago

Man that Georgia mud is something else, it gets in every little crack and crevice. I remember working a job down near Brunswick on a similar setup and we had the same problem with the pump screen clogging up every hour or so. What finally worked for us was we switched to a coarser screen mesh and ran the pump at a lower RPM so it wasn't pulling so hard. We also kept a constant trickle of water going into the intake to loosen it up before it hit the pump. That sticky clay just needs to be thinned out or it'll glue everything shut no matter what you do.