Courtesy Photo | Drone’s eye view of the St. Louis District’s Dredge Potter with the M/V Kimmswick...... read more read more
Keeping commerce moving on the Inland Waterway System is a year-round project for the St. Louis District, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Dredge Potter, M/V Pathfinder, M/V Kimmswick, and M/V Prairie Du Rocher along with other small boats in the fleet, barges, and pipeline are all maintained by a dedicated team from the St. Louis Service Base.
The St. Louis District’s Dredge Potter is dry docked at National Maintenance and Repair in Hartford, Illinois, for scheduled routine maintenance. For the next four to six weeks, this collaboration effort between contractors and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to place the Potter in dry dock above the water line where the hull can be accessed will allow for essential maintenance work to the boats systems that cannot be completed while in the water. This includes:
- Changing the slurry hoses leading to the ladder and dustpan
- Inspecting the moveable hinge points and ultrasonic testing of the thickness of the steel vessel hull
- Determining straightness of drive shafts connecting the propellers and engine
- Switching out the two, five-blade propellers with replacement propellors allowing the spare set to be inspected and rebalanced
- Finalizing the galley electrical wiring, plumbing connections, flooring, window removal, door installation and storage area modifications
- Welding a new reinforced, vertical plate head log to connect the bow rake bottom to the rake deck and reattaching the push knees
- Replacing the walkway on the second deck and installing removable panels for easier access to the pipeline
- Priming and painting areas that were modified to retrofit new equipment
- High-pressure washing the 240-foot-long vessels exterior to remove buildup below the water line
Once these tasks are complete, the Potter will return to the St. Louis Service Base where the final winter maintenance items will be completed, and the vessel will be underway to tackle the 2025 dredging season. Through a constant rotation, the St. Louis Service Base team routinely completes all vessel maintenance and ensures they go to dry dock for required inspections and maintenance.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2025 11:51 |
| Story ID: | 496833 |
| Location: | ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Time to dock and recharge for the St. Louis District’s Dredge Potter, by Janet Meredith, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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