Barrett Paving enjoying its difference-making dredge

The brand-new dredge takes the place of a dragline that became costly to run in its latter years. Says Barrett Paving’s Jim Meckstroth: “There were no parts available for it, and we fatigued the structure so much that it’s not savable.” Photo: P&Q Staff

Because Barrett Paving spent many years utilizing a dragline, there’s a bit of a learning curve with the dredge for company personnel. The company, however, brought in an outside person to serve as the primary operator of the dredge.

“We went outside and hired a new operator who had never run a clamshell dredge, although he had run a section dredge,” Meckstroth says. “He was familiar with a lot of things – the parts [and] the floating. It’s a little different having a whole plant out here floating.”

Barrett Paving also brought up to speed a backup dredge operator who spent his first few years at the company running an excavator.

Meckstroth, meanwhile, can enjoy the convenience of monitoring the dredge from afar.

“We have cameras up on shore,” he says. “I can sit there and watch this thing running anytime from the office. We have cameras watching everything around the plants for security and insurance purposes. I can watch him operate and everything [on the dredge] and know what he’s doing.”

Moving the dredge is something Barrett Paving is still getting used to.

“We’ve never dealt with a dredge in our region here before,” Meckstroth says. “Just having our tiedowns and everything properly located where we can relocate it without bending the conveyor and working with that is important.”

Maintenance on the dredge presents new challenges, as well.

“It’s different,” Meckstroth says. “Supreme is making a workboat for us right now. We’ve got a small one here, but we’re going to get another one with a crane and so we can bring oils and lift components out here on the dredge.”

The deposit’s nature is also something Barrett Paving is learning to manage.

“We have changes in the deposit,” Meckstroth says. “We can have really good material for a while and, all of a sudden, we hit some slurry stuff. If the operator is not on it, it can make a mess on the conveyor, overrun and run back onto the belt. But, if he catches it in time, he can sit there, stop the gates and it’ll all go through. If you have a good operator on there, it makes all the difference in the world.”

Shortsleeve agrees.

“When you’re dredging a pond, it’s not all the same feed gradation compared to a quarry where the feed gradation or application is consistent,” he says. “So our equipment has to be ready to handle inconsistent feed and fluctuations in feed.”

Reflection

Looking back on the project, Meckstroth is pleased with how Barrett Paving’s plans turned out. He’s also happy with the support the company got from vendors.

“Supreme was excellent in working with us on deliveries, everything coming in and with the crew they hired to put it together,” Meckstroth says. “They were great people working out here in January – through the bad weather – to get it done ahead of schedule. I’ve really got to credit them because there were few issues. They got everything going very well.”

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