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Warning: A sudden silt surge in the Mississippi delta almost took out our pump impeller
We were working a channel near Venice, Louisiana, when the suction head hit a pocket of pure, thick silt that the sonar didn't catch. The whole rig shuddered and the pressure gauge spiked past 80 psi in a second. I killed the pump flow and had the deckhand back us off slowly to clear the line before anything locked up solid. Anyone else had a close call with unexpected bottom material that the maps didn't show?
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reese_thompson746mo ago
Read an article last year about a survey crew finding old riverbed timber buried under modern silt layers in that area. Like whole trees just sitting there, not on any chart. Makes you wonder what else is down there that the gear can't see until you're on top of it. That sudden pressure spike must have been a real heart-stopper. Glad you got clear without a full lock-up.
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oscarthompson3mo ago
Man, that's wild. Sounds like you almost turned your pump into a solid chunk of Mississippi mud pie. @lunah86 probably had it worse with that clay shelf, bet that was a real party. But timber though? That's a whole different level of nasty surprise. Glad you didn't have to fish a whole tree out of your impeller.
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