My cutterhead got wrapped in a steel cable last Thursday - worst hour of my career

I was working a job on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge, clearing out a silted-in dock. Everything was going smooth until the pump started bogging down hard. Shut it down and found a 40-foot steel cable tangled up in the cutterhead like spaghetti. Took me and the deckhand 45 minutes with bolt cutters and a torch to get it off. I've snagged tires and old pipes before but a cable that thick was a first. How do you guys deal with debris that's tough but flexible like that? Any tricks to spot it before it wraps?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.ruby12d agoMost Upvoted

That 40 foot cable must have been a nightmare. I've pulled plenty of junk out of waterways but wrapping steel cable that thick in a cutterhead is a whole different level. You must have been cussing up a storm for that full hour. How did you even manage with bolt cutters on something that heavy? I would have been ready to just sink the whole rig and walk away.

mitchell.lee12d ago

Man, I just tell people I'm running a underwater recycling operation now. Bolt cutters and a torch is the only way I've found for that stuff, just takes forever and a bunch of cussing. I'd pay good money for a metal detector that works underwater and doesn't just beep at my own rig.

the_wren11d ago

davis.ruby pretty much nailed it with the bolt cutters and cussing combo. I'd add that a good angle grinder with a cutoff wheel saves time if you can get the cable to the surface and hold it steady.