Loading…
30
The swing radius on a 10-inch Ellicott cuts way deeper than most guys think
I was working a channel job near Baton Rouge last month and watched a guy chew into a bank he didn't mean to because he ignored the swing radius on his cutterhead. A 10-inch Ellicott like mine (the 370 model) has a wider arc than you'd guess from the cab, and it's really easy to nick the far side if you don't account for it. I learned this the hard way my first season when I gouged a dock piling, and now I always mark my swing zone with buoy lines before I start. Has anyone else had close calls from misjudging the cutter sweep?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
mark491mo ago
Wait, have you ever been that guy who accidentally carved a bank you weren't even aiming at? lmao. I did the exact same thing my first year on a 370 and took a chunk out of a concrete mooring buoy that still haunts my dreams. My swing radius was way off and I just assumed the cutterhead was closer to me than it actually was, so I ended up chewing into a sandbar I was trying to avoid. Now I keep bright orange floaties around my zone and draw a little map on my tablet like I'm planning a heist.
5
charlie371mo ago
I feel you @mark49, that buoy story hurts just reading it because I've been there with the wrong swing radius too.
4