Spent $400 on a new suction hose strainer basket and it was worth every penny
We were working a small channel job down in the bayou last month, pulling up a lot of soft mud and old plant junk. The old strainer on our 8-inch cutterhead dredge was just a basic cage, and it kept clogging with roots and plastic bags every other hour. I was sick of shutting down to clear it, so I bit the bullet and ordered this heavy-duty basket with a finer, tapered mesh. It ran me about $400 after shipping. The difference was night and day. It let the slurry through but caught almost all the trash before it could jam the pump. We ran for two full shifts without a single clog-related stop. Has anyone else found a specific piece of gear that cut down on your downtime this much? I'm curious about other fixes.