Heard a deckhand on the Columbia River call the dredge 'a big, dumb shovel' and it stuck with me.
We were on a break, watching the cutterhead chew through some tough clay, and this young guy just said it. He was new, maybe a month in. At first I thought it was a dumb thing to say, but the more I watched the machine, the more I got it. He meant you have to treat it like a simple tool, not some magic machine. You can't just set the swing speed and walk away. You have to feel the load, watch the spoil, listen to the pump. I've been running for 8 years and I think I got too fancy sometimes, overthinking the settings. That simple idea, just being a good operator with a big shovel, changed my whole shift. Made me focus on the basics again. Anyone else ever have a simple idea from a new guy totally change how you run your gear?