Dredging The Mississippi | Floating Excavators | Weeks Marine

This episode of the vlog brought Aaron and the BuildWitt crew down to the very end of the Mississippi River Delta in Venice, Louisiana to check out a MASSIVE Weeks Marine dredging operation. They were placing 10 MILLION yards of sand to restore the coastline for the sake of storm/flood protection + habitat restoration!
Weeks Marine placed a lot of the material using Cat D6s which are completely wrecked once they are done working on a job like this. (sand and salt water are extremely corrosive)
Because they wanted water and gravity to do the majority of the work, they had to make sure they were controlling the material in the first place. Excavators built dikes that control the water flow so sediment and water settled into channels and got them to the grade they needed.
The crew also got to see firsthand some “Marsh Buggies” (aka floating 330 excavators), which are purpose-built machines capable of floating in water and soft material.
If you want to learn more about Weeks Marine, check them out HERE: www.weeksmarine.com/ #heavyequipment #excavators #excavator
FOLLOW AARON WITT:
Instagram: / aaronwitt
LinkedIn: / aaronwitt
Facebook: / aaronwitt
Website: buildwitt.com/
Podcast: buildwitt.com/dirt-talk/
-VIDEO CHAPTERS-
0:00 - Intro - Restoring the Coastline
1:23 - Cutting Dredge
2:02 - Marsh Buggies aka Floating Excavators
4:15 - Welcome To Louisiana
4:57 - Building Dikes
6:29 - Caterpillar D6’s
7:20 - The Fat Truck
8:08 - Cat 966M Moving Pipe
9:00 - The Rundown of Weeks Marine’s Mississippi River Project

[@AaronWitt]

Have you ever seen a floating excavator? What other equipment have you seen in dredging operations?

[@rodd8125]

Did you see that new gas plant on the way down?

[@ernierundall1336]

Yes I have I was involved in building a big dredge back in the day for Martin Marietta It would pump sand from a 100' deep

[@Tuberuser187]

Saw some in the vehicle pool at a heavy equipment training school, with the other earth moving vehicles though I was on other unrelated training for all terrain forklifts.

[@TeimonKauppa739]

Long reach excavator

[@2511jeremy]

Good thing they spend millions on birds not like theres starving people or anything

[@PixelSham]

The finesse to fit those pipes together in a massive machine is pretty nuts

[@arkthefennecfox2366]

You'd be amazed at how precise most heavy machine operators are

[@AaronWitt]

the guy in the loader has done it for decades

[@jmgates09]

Nah it's not as hard as it might look and I'm guessing the guy in the loader was Dale Hooker he definitely taught me a few things.

[@Make-Asylums-Great-Again]

@@jmgates09 all good Hookers teach you a thing or two.

[@johnnyjjmcc1164]

Not as hard as it looks. Seat time and a lot of it

[@RaviPatel0223]

9:20 you explained it perfectly. Same thing is happening to our beaches in Florida. The Appalachian mountains supplied Florida with endless sand but if you look at the major rivers now (Savannah, Apalachicola) they are all dammed up and the sediment will never reach the ocean. People will continue to blame melting ice for taking away the beaches but never look at what’s going on upstream

[@SilvaDreams]

People also don't want to admit that they are going to loose their perfect beach front properties, because coast lines constantly change no matter how much sand they keep trying to toss back on it.

[@DieselRamcharger]

@@SilvaDreams yeeah.......you see all those houses? lmao. you ideologues are fucking morons.

[@webrbio3153]

Yeah exactly. At the very end Witt explains exactly what the problem was and how this work would resolve it. Cool machines, but give us the punch line sooner.

[@xcwedgecx2436]

@@SilvaDreams we have destroyed the natural erosion prevention of plants that kept the beaches there.

[@spazzywhitebelt]

@@xcwedgecx2436 I think the bigger issue is river diversion, he was talking about levee's, the water isn't allowed to flow where it wants and so it doesn't deposit sediment like it should naturally and that leads to the beaches receding

[@yippikiyay197]

Finally!! A video with detailed explanations and not just a vlog!

[@AaronWitt]

we're learning

[@dbikeryamaha125]

@@AaronWitt one thing I thought of was seeing a graphic (map etc) from above with X's where the dredger is and where the sand gets pumped would help to understand what's going on. Keep up the good work!

[@bb-jv5mj]

Straight on Google earth and you can see it all. Pretty badass. All that effort and the amount of material moved is tiny in comparison to the general area of delta. The scale is pretty unbelievable

[@mlsinc]

Those marsh buggies are unreal! They seem pretty unstoppable. Great stuff, Aaron.

[@PixelSham]

that 4x4 is freaking adorable, i want one

[@WatCharles]

I think it's a sherp used in Kanye's music video "Follow God"

[@WyattH]

@@WatCharles nah it’s a fat track it’s built in Canada

[@vesa7069]

It's a Canadian Fat Truck yeah. They're awesome! 😄

[@landrunnerairboats2038]

This project was only half done at the time of this video, it should be completed in the next 3 months. Truly impressive if you look from satellite imagery. I watch this dredge make new lane everyday from the airboat. We need more of these projects

[@fattruckatv]

Perfect use for the Fat Truck!

[@cesare8270]

If you ever had a sandbox growing up and filled it with water, This is pretty much that but for the big boys

[@Anteater6788]

I wonder what the undercarriage lifespan is on those dozers running in sandy water all day?

[@uhaveautism6192]

The last salt water dozer we used we ran for damn near 5 years. After that, you could poke holes in it with your finger. That was in swampy marsh right off the ocean in east NC.

[@ktalltx8538]

The navy has d7’s that run in salt water year round building sand berms and building landing pads for boats. If I remember they had a life cycle of maybe 2 years before it was sent off to be completely rebuilt.

[@AaronWitt]

they essentially price the wear into the jobs. You somewhat throw the machines away when you're done

[@jmgates09]

Pretty much in 2 years a brand new dozer will look like an old rust bucket but we probably get 4 to 5 years out of the D6s if we are lucky and the Cats are pretty hard to come by right now so they started getting some Kamatsu which in my opinion are complete trash for dredging have no ground clearance and are weak at pushing sand they grade nice but that's about it.

[@brandonmcandrew4859]

i wonder how much longer they would last if they got cleaned at the end of the work day each day

[@tcf436]

Enjoy the content but more than that your passion for the dirt world. Building a business on what you love to do in hopes of showing the younger generations that their are great jobs out side if an office. Keep it up!

[@AaronWitt]

thanks Tony I really appreciate that

[@rajgill7576]

Lucky to have discovered you rather early it seems. Solid sub man just watched a few of your videos. Perfect for a work night with your content packed short form

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for watching man

[@agneweightyeight]

Awesome video Aaron. I found your channel looking for excavators with my 2yo son and love your content. Awesome to see you promoting an industry that the modern world was built on but a lot of people probably take for granted

[@PixelSham]

love the animated visuals!

[@AaronWitt]

we fancy now

[@benjaminallen2370]

Specialized heavy equip is rad. Great job showing and explaining this niche application.

[@AaronWitt]

Thank you sir

[@mainelyworthwhile5793]

Just stumbled onto your channel. Truly great work. Fantastic content!

[@AaronWitt]

Thank you!

[@williamgibb5557]

In the 70s, I rebuilt a swamp walker. It was a backhoe with 4 foot wide tracks. Can't say how well it would float,but crawling , it was a beast. Residex Corp was the owner in South Jersey.

[@ernierundall1336]

Great video it was nice to see what going on I was there 15 years ago working Putting barges back in the river after the hurricane

[@tcf436]

Were you working for RJ Corman after Katrina?

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for watching Ernie

[@ernierundall1336]

@@tcf436 no I was With halter services

[@tcf436]

@@ernierundall1336 My son was working for RJ Corman during that that time doing that as well. Why I was asking.

[@Charlie-dx6bv]

Just found this channel, already hooked!

[@AaronWitt]

stoked to have you onboard!

[@calebBalls69]

Found this channel from your TikTok and I love this kind of content

[@AaronWitt]

Glad you found us here!!

[@dirtgrainsteel]

We have been looking in to purchasing a floating excavator for brush mowing for the DNR and also river work so we can get places with out impacting the fragile ecosystems along the rivers

[@DensityMatrix1]

The Mississippi River really doesn’t want to run in that channel. It wants to run through the Atchafalaya. We spend billions on this.

[@davestinson5691]

I bet that's a smooth site to work on

[@dalex8757]

Man I loved the music in this one

[@AaronWitt]

Chase appreciates that

[@Yourmomsfavoritetoy69]

Thank for letting me know what a sling is great videos?

[@julianmatheson]

Love the videos @Aaron Witt Not sure if you’ve ever heard of Teck Resources but they’re a major coal provider & general mining company in Canada & Chile. They could be a good fit for your videos, I’ve worked on a few Heavy industrial building projects with them and am designing one right now in Northern BC.

[@kolereed9346]

We’re actually moving 18m yards on that job excited that you got to witness it

[@joesnyderburn4278]

These videos remind me of dirty jobs. Good work!

[@AaronWitt]

Thank you Joe!

[@trentgay3437]

Every time I see something like that I always want a gold sluice at the end. Lol

[@dydamis5158]

I saw a sherp!!.. yaaaaaaay

[@AaronWitt]

They let me run it for a sec too

[@hphillips7425]

Good video. Interesting

[@AaronWitt]

Thank you

[@fromtoxtosaiyan7814]

This pipe are really massive !!

[@KendallPhillips89]

Nice video dude, we do this in Mobile Alabama too, see it everyday.

[@AaronWitt]

Thanks for checking us out

[@Rds1993]

Most of our contractors use these for our marsh restoration jobs. They do what no other machine can, but they are maintenance nightmares.

[@stugill4513]

hi from the uk just found your channel and subcribed very very intresting and well presented not over the the top and silly like some channels

[@AaronWitt]

Thank you so much

[@guyneeser2029]

I love too see the girls out there working with the men girls are smart and have faness that men dont have.....

[@uhaveautism6192]

The sherp!!

[@fattruckatv]

Fat Truck

[@jaredlemay9409]

Sherpa 💪🏻

[@meganm3270]

Born in raised south Louisianan here 🥰 can you do a update on this exact location after a hurricane comes through to see if what they are doing actually works or not

[@7eis]

Honestly looks like great fun. Wouldn't want to be the one footing the bill tho

[@tech99070]

We are outside Venice [very long pause] Louisiana

[@HighClassStunts]

Man I would love for you to come to a job site of ours! See what pipefitters do day to day on some big pipe!

[@SgHawk144]

They have a sherpa!

[@trickpierce8196]

You should come out to west texas some time

[@murdockpm]

Would love to know who makes your tinted glasses at the end?

[@watchthe1369]

Sherpa!

[@mattgaming8717]

Speaking of auction. Do one one Richy brothers and also find some worn out machines. I have never seen a worn one or one from this work that wasnt still going or fixes no matter what.

[@jnic2003]

You should try to contact Luhr Brothers, they are currently out dredging on the Ohio river.

[@Rds1993]

They pretty much market leaders since the merge with bertucci.

[@africanclassicalmusic]

Seriously expensive too

[@conornorris6815]

how do you get a job moving sediment like that, it looks fun

[@jimjones8300]

I work on a dredge . I know all of this very well.

[@sheliafunchess3986]

❤❤❤

[@StealthTRD]

I loved to run one of those

[@Ipootjuice]

Sooo when you coming to the Microsoft job in Redmond wa it’s the largest jobsite west of the Mississippi

[@charlesgoodwin1]

my son is captain of the dredge you saw .i called and told him about the video

[@AaronWitt]

That’s fantastic!

[@Unknown_Ooh]

Aaron next time you go to Europe check out Ashville Aggregate. Daniel has a pretty large channel on YT and I'm sure he'd love to show you around the yard and his custom LH60 for unloading rail cars. Check him out if you haven't seen the channel yet!

[@benjaminhartman4488]

I designed this job. The project design began in early 2018 and finished in 2020. Construction on this largest marsh creation area finishes this week. Down there every two weeks for construction progress meetings (hi to the field crew who might watch this video and see this comment).

[@AaronWitt]

Fantastic. I really enjoyed visiting. Awesome work

[@webrbio3153]

So this was filmed in 2019 I guess.

[@benjaminhartman4488]

@@webrbio3153 No, they are in active construction, the project is quite large with a commensurate schedule; they started pumping sand in September of 2021.

[@bozoone4464]

Would hate to be a Larbor on that jobsite

[@blitzkreg335]

Fuck I love heavy machinery.

[@AaronWitt]

you and me both

[@MOSSFEEN]

They have been doing this in HOLLAND for last 50 odd years Land Reclamation

[@mattbarry5166]

How do the pipes not blow apart from the pressure? I have a had time believing just the pressure from machine pushing the pipes together hold those pipes together. Did they give you an idea of the pressure the dredge pushes material at? Thanks for the cool content!

[@AaronWitt]

They’re purpose built for this. Not sure beyond that 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@oceanwaves83]

It's only in the neighborhood of 450 psi depending on the dredge. The pipes are made of steel, and are scoped at one end. They get jammed in there quite forcefully (D6 weighs ~60,000lbs), to the point that they are stretched a bit by the scope going in. This creates a pinching force that keeps the pipes in place. They also weigh 1000lbs or more depending on thickness (sand eventually thins them out, plus rust). They can be blown apart but it is rare. It usually happens when the dredge attempts to send too much sand and not enough water, causing back pressure to increase abruptly. Also, elbows and areas near the elbow see more pressure than the pipes that are straight in line, and the pipes near the elbow often have steel straps welded to them to prevent those first few pipes from becoming disconnected. The front end loader often struggles briefly while breaking the connection, so the angle at which the scopes are designed make for a rather tite (while temporary) connection.

[@francisphillipeck4272]

Bringing sand from the middle of the river to the edge of the river, can't see anything that could possibly go wrong with that.

[@robertbinder2743]

The material settling at the bottom of the Mississippi that is being dredged is naturally supposed to deposit where they’re currently placing it. These dredging crews are manually performing a task that the river would be naturally doing had it not be locked by the levee system.

[@Joelontugs]

I’m from 30 minutes away from here and am actually from the town where the man who invented marsh buggy is from me it trips me out by the people who are so deep into equipment but have never saw one lol

[@AaronWitt]

there ain't much for marsh where I grew up in Arizona

[@Joelontugs]

@@AaronWitt it’s not only you to my surprise I’ve never saw anyone on KZbin that had known what one was the first time they’ve saw one I’ve literally grown up around them and as a kid you figure everyone else has to lol

[@jmgates09]

WILCO???

[@Rds1993]

John Wilson

[@Rds1993]

Is this a CPRA job?

[@jeremydorn5168]

River

[@ombhamare522]

Does anyone know the name of this background music?

[@animenut69]

Do the dozers go in for a rebuild when jobs done or are they scrapped and replaced with new.

[@AaronWitt]

basically just sold off at auction. They price it into the job. It's just a tool and is what it is

[@jmgates09]

Yes we use most on multiple jobs but quite a few on this job I would imagine don't make it out the grave yard seeing how it's been going on for 2 years

[@Ff95052]

Why not finish the pumps instead of spreading an already low water supply?

[@jamesedwards809]

"eeeerrrr, whats it called.....errr New Orleans". ???!!!

[@charles5259]

should upload unedited machine footage to a side channel

[@AaronWitt]

we're working on it

[@oceanwaves83]

That would be really cool

[@jamesweir2943]

the hubris of man is stunning. with one swipe of the back of his mighty hand God can just wipe that work away. I live in the Stuart area of Florida and the people around here spend millions and millions of dollars every year restoring beaches and God just keeps taking the dirt back out into the ocean. smh

[@malonedickridesagain3998]

someone get that kid a hardhat that fits

[@AaronWitt]

I’m too smol

[@trey1531]

this guy sounds enthusiastic and not enthusiastic at the same time

[@AaronWitt]

well said

[@trey1531]

Just kidding, I am from Louisiana and this video was super interesting!!! Thank You for making it!

[@jamesgarrison6430]

Well 100k a day would be 100 days. Now even if they only hit 80k that's 125 days so what is there avage a day

[@oceanwaves83]

It varies. Could be 30k. A lot of 40k, 50k, and 60k days. Things go wrong in dredging all the time which affects production.

[@jacek6220]

Your face is pleasing to look at

[@Happy357mag]

At 6:36 Sand is abrasive, not corrosive.

[@AaronWitt]

I misspoke because I am dum

[@Happy357mag]

@@AaronWitt You would be dumb if you actually believed sand was corrosive. You don't so your not. My comment was for other people to understand what you're talking about.

[@betes1]

add renderings or drawings when explaining please

[@AaronWitt]

we'll work on it

[@andrewpeterson554]

When describing sand I think the word you are looking for is abrasive not corrosive

[@AaronWitt]

potato tomato

[@oceanwaves83]

In this environment, sand and salt come in the same package. There is no sand without salt. It is primarily abrasive, but highly corrosive because of this.

[@danmitch5085]

Hi

[@raganusmc]

I would hate to clean the tracks every day!! F that!

[@timmagee5066]

No freeze. No moving on road.. No clean tracks. Fnrunnit.

[@jmgates09]

Sinking all those dozers what a shame.

[@AaronWitt]

they're just tools for a job

[@jmgates09]

Oh I know I'm a dump Forman for Weeks they have just sunk a lot of em down there!!!

[@crazymaze22]

The editing was a little over the top and distracting but I’m glad you brought it home there the last couple minutes!

[@michaelt.9372]

Aaron! Its Tuber again. Would you be interested in filming the erection of wind turbines? Im not far from a new wind farm in Northern AZ, and recently in contact with the job boss. Let me know.

[@AaronWitt]

Very open to it man

[@Pattyboytheking]

The distorted “jazz” is just way to irritating.

[@wahabafridi5072]

Hello sir I am a truck driver I need a job please help me 🙏

[@webrbio3153]

I actually think the narrative, storytelling on this one was Week...s Marine. Tell us the purpose of the project upfront, not at the end. The diagraming info graphics is the only way I could figure out what any of those machines were doing before the last 3 minutes.

[@AaronWitt]

we're still figuring out how to do this stuff. Thanks for checking it out

[@WilReid]

I want to watch and listen, but I can't b/c of the music. The screeching off out of key is painful to listen to.

[@weldersandblaster]

Your content could have been very interesting except for your video editor adding in strange music that was so loud, I struggled to hear you up to the point the nuisance became so large, I quit and just left. Now I go block your channel so you can't waste any more of my time in the future.

[@jamesedwards809]

Aaron is lacking in knowledge and has a limited vocabulary. Never heard the words spreading the surface area, large foot print, flotation chambers. Sand is not corrosive, it can be abrasive. Anyone can just pick up a camera and post ramblings. Wow.

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for watching James! You're right on my limited knowledge and vocab. I'll work on it

[@oceanwaves83]

Who expects someone to know specifics about such a unique and specialized industry? His explanations were impressive for someone who isn't in the industry. Sand is abrasive, yes. But there is so much salt in the sand, the water, and the air, that it is a very corrosive environment altogether. Professional response, Aaron. Dealing with people is a skill, lol

[@AaronWitt]

@@oceanwaves83 thank you sir I appreciate it