The 20-foot rule for swing anchors cut my downtime in half

After a third stuck cutterhead last spring near Baton Rouge, I started setting my swing anchors 20 feet back from the bank and that extra purchase stopped the cable from dragging silt onto the spool, has anyone else tried a longer setback in soft mud?

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2 Comments

smith.elliot1mo ago

Man, that sounds rough. Glad the longer setback is working for you, soft mud is a beast.

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the_claire1mo ago

Ha! I gotta push back on that one, hard. Longer setbacks are way overrated in my book, especially when you're dealing with muck that shifts every single rain. I've seen guys sink a monster setback into soft mud and it still wanders like a drunk squirrel, because the ground just gives and gives. Short and fat is where it's at, you get the bearing surface right where the load is, and you don't have to fight leverage issues when the dirt turns to soup. Plus, digging deeper just means more water in your hole, which is a whole other nightmare nobody talks about.

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