Switched from a wire bucket to a clamshell on my Ellicott and regretted it for a full shift

Had a job in a tight canal near Baton Rouge where my usual bucket was getting pinched. Swapped to the clamshell thinking Id grab more material. Ended up fighting mud and debris all day. The clamshell just couldnt close clean on the mixed bottom. Lost about 30% of my cycle time. Anyone else try one of these on silty jobs and have better luck?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_rodriguez10d ago

Oh man, I actually read a post about this exact thing on a dredging forum a few months back. A guy from Mississippi was running a clamshell on the Yazoo River and said it turned a two-day job into a four-day nightmare because of the mud. He finally gave up and went back to his wire bucket after losing a whole shift to cleaning out the clamshell jaws every 20 minutes. Sounds like the clamshell just doesn't work on that silty, soupy bottom where you need a good seal to hold the load. Maybe it works better on gravel or harder material, but for mud it seems like a straight downgrade.

angelab6210d ago

That Yazoo River silt acts more like warm peanut butter than mud.