![]() ![]() These modern dredges put a pretty face on the same design drawbacks that were built into the early dredges. The result is seen today in the form of the modern Open Hull dredge. These additional features further compromised the usability and floatability of dredges. Over time the nautical features of the dredges were combined with the desire for dredges that were transportable with legal width and height truck loads and minimal disassembly/assembly time. ![]() They were mind numbing to operate, knuckle busting to maintain and prone to sinking. ![]() These dredges were essentially boats turned into mining machines. These traits included stuffing all of the machinery into a small space to create a “machinery room”, bilges, flotation manholes, making the operator’s space integral with the hull to create a “bridge”, keel coolers for the diesel engine, coaming around the “hatchways”, piercing the hull below the water line for the service water suction and marine transmissions. Many of these early dredge builders had a background in boat building, so the dredges they built shared many boat building traits. As the 20th century dawned and the economy of the country developed, the demand for small dredges increased and many companies plunged into dredge building. Open Hull dredges are the continuation of a heritage that started many years ago. The difference in the dredge designs is far greater than mere appearance. Other hullpump dredges have all of the machinery located inside a sheet metal housing covering an open top hull. ![]() We refer to this arrangement as OpenDeck design. You may have observed that Twinkle Co H-Series hullpump dredges are arranged with the engine clearly visible on the deck and the dredge pump located in a pump well. ![]()
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