slurry per hour at 10,000 ft. via a booster
pump arrangement.
At the end of the 5,000 ft. of pipe, a
small barge holding a skid mounted pump
is driven by a diesel engine. This arrange-
ment will boost delivery of the slurry an
additional 5,000 ft.. The pump, similar to
the one located on the dredge, is direct
driven by a Caterpillar 3516 diesel engine.
The engine is rated at 1,855 hp at 1,200
rpm.
The engine has a 1,950-gallon diesel
fuel tank located within the main skid
frame. The engine is turbocharged, after
cooled and uses a radiator to cool the cir-
culating water. Operation of the booster
pump is controlled from the control house
of the dredge via a radio wave intercon-
nection between the dredge and the boost-
er pump station.
A Lufkin gearbox reduces the booster
engine rpm from 1200 to 490 rpm.
One of the unique features of the Goetz
is the production monitor that takes a
sampling every second of cross-sectional
density and the flow rate within the slurry
pipe giving a momentary mass flow. From
that value the volume of solids in cubic
yards or tons per hour can be calculated.
The Goetz has three capstans, two for-
ward and one aft. Three 10 hp electric
motors controls the operation of the cap-
stans.
A davit-style deck crane is located for-
ward and is sized to handle main deck
components and be able to place the
largest single pump component on the
barge along side of the dredge.
The vessel has two spuds, both in the aft
end of the vessel dredge. One is a "walk-
ing spud" that allows precise movement
of the vessel during dredging operations.
The other spud is for position holding
while resetting the walking spud. Electric
motors lift and lower both spuds via
winches. The zero position of both spuds
is when they are at the bottom of the hull.
Each spud is 42 ft. long, 30-in. in diam-
eter with a 1.25 in. average wall thickness.
The spuds are encased in spuds wells.
The Goetz is equipped with cutter heads
attached to a ladder that lowers to the
river bottom. A 150 HP winch is provided
and utilizes the OEM 3000 series drive
system for control of both speed and
torque. Two additional 150 hp Lantec
winches are supplied as swing winches
for lateral movement of the ladder with its
cutting head.
The cutter head has a 352 hp electric
motor derated to 302 hp. The electric
motor also has a speed reducer to bring
the rpm down to 50 rpm for the cutter
head.
Power for this diesel electric dredge
comes from a pair of Caterpillar 3516 B
diesel engines connected to generators
producing 1,285 kW each. The engines
are four-cycle, ABS certified, Marpol
compliant, turbocharged and after cooled.
The generators are capable of being run in
parallel. A box cooler is used to cool the
engine water.
Fuel for these two engines comes from
a pair of 12,500 gallon tanks in the hull of
the Goetz.
OEM chose generator engines running
at 1,200 rpm M rather than 1800 rpm for
several reasons including a 12 percent
reduction in fuel consumption over a
Caterpillar 3412 engine running at 1800
rpm.
In addition, the 1200 rpm engine
reduced exhaust emissions, noise, mainte-
nance and increase engine overhaul time.
OEM also supplied the switchgear and
generator control panel. A shore power
connection is also supplied with a shore
power breaker and a phase sequence-
reversing switch is included to correct the
incoming phase of the current.
Much of the electrical control equip-
ment is centralized within an electrical
control room
on the main deck. The space also con-
tains transformers to supply 120 volts and
lower voltage for other equipment.
The second deck is dominated by the
control house 14 ft. x 14 ft. x 10 ft. It is air
conditioned and heated with 360 degree
tinted glass windows, an operators con-
sole, an operator's chair and anti-vibration
mounting.
The control house sits atop a day room
to give the control house operator a better
line of sight to spud equipment and to
view the surrounding river conditions.
The dredge Goetz has replaced the 67-
year-old dredge William A. Thompson.
"The Thompson was the last of its breed,
a self-propelled hydraulic cutter dredge
with quarters on board," said Jim May-
bach, plant engineer. "The Thompson was
one of the last vessels built with a
wrought iron hull. You can't buy wrought
iron anymore," Maybach added.
The Goetz is unpowered and offers no
crew quarters or galley. It will take a fleet
of four boats to replace the Thompson.
SeaArk Marine, Monticello, Ark., has
delivered the crew boat Peck in June 2005
and the towboat General Warren will be
completed in 2006. If funded, the quarters
barge Taggatz will be completed in 2007.
The dredge cost $9.8 million, the tow-
boat $5.6 million and the quarters barge
$10 million and the crew boat $2.6 mil-
lion.
That brings the total fleet cost to $28
million. It is expected to increase the pro-
duction by 30 percent plus reduce fuel
costs and cut potential pollution from
hydraulic oil spills and diesel engine
exhaust emissions significantly.
The dredge William A. Thompson is
expected to stay with the new dredge sup-
plying quarters and a galley until those
functions are available from the new ves-
sels under construction.
The dredge Goetz will be used to main-
tain 850 miles of the Upper Mississippi
River, 355 miles of the Illinois River and
24 miles of the St. Croix River to a depth
of nine-ft. in the channel.
18 • MarineNews • August, 2005
DREDGE REPORT
It’s not a product.
Experience the Comfort
of WESMAR Stabilizers.
Call today.
It’s a miracle.
Western Marine Electronics
14120 NE 200th Street Box 7201
Woodinville WA 98072-4001
Tel: (425) 481-2296
Fax: 425-486-0909
Email: cjones@wesmar.com
Web: www.wesmar.com
5-350 HP ThrustersCentral Hydraulics
Circle 251 on Reader Service Card
Circle 200 on Reader Service Card
AUGUSTMN2005 3(17-24).qxd 8/1/2005 4:11 PM Page 18
Digital Wave Publishing