Smartphone Photo of the Day

Midniteoyl · Jan 7, 2014

farmeratheart said:
My wife had a visitor a couple of days ago!

View attachment 353641

Beautiful bird..

lutt · Jan 10, 2014

As some of you know I work on the farm on my days off, the other month is spent here! My home away from home! Those are 710 G EMD engines rated at 4000 horsepower a piece! The boat is rated as a 10500 horsepower. There 16 cyl. Our ol ones before reposed was 20 cyl. I'm a engineer on this vessel! It runs the lower Mississippi River! LUTT

fordmantpw · Jan 10, 2014

lutt said:
As some of you know I work on the farm on my days off, the other month is spent here! My home away from home! Those are 710 G EMD engines rated at 4000 horsepower a piece! The boat is rated as a 10500 horsepower. There 16 cyl. Our ol ones before reposed was 20 cyl. I'm a engineer on this vessel! It runs the lower Mississippi River! LUTT

Awesome! How many crew members does it take to run a boat like that?

Midniteoyl · Jan 10, 2014

lutt said:
As some of you know I work on the farm on my days off, the other month is spent here! My home away from home! Those are 710 G EMD engines rated at 4000 horsepower a piece! The boat is rated as a 10500 horsepower. There 16 cyl. Our ol ones before reposed was 20 cyl. I'm a engineer on this vessel! It runs the lower Mississippi River! LUTT

Now thats cool! Dream job

lutt · Jan 10, 2014

There is nine of us crew members and one cook! LUTT

LJH · Jan 10, 2014

LUTT, at what RPM range do those monsters run?

I used to have a friend with a tugboat. It was a party boat, his father owned a salvage company and they brought it up from the bottom of the San Francisco Bay & fixed it up. Goofy friend managed to sink and raise it at least one additional time, not sure where it is now - probably back on the bottom.

Anywho, IIRC, that old tug engine had three cylinders and idled at something like 60 RPM. It sounded flippin' awesome.

lutt · Jan 11, 2014

North bound they run at 850 RPM, but the pilots have the option of running 900 if conditions warrant. South bound varies, knuckled in, which is 357, idle is 350, up to full ahead if needed. They are a 2 stroke diesel. Computer controlled! We carry all our own spare parts, we do all our own repairs in house. Including all electrical systems, hydraulic, plumbing, welding, just more or less everything. We don't do crankshaft changeouts, those are beyond our capabilities, you have to split the block. We do our overhauls in house, around 30000 hrs. Crankcase holds 350 gallons of oil, plus whats in the filter pots and piping which would be around 425 total.LUTT

dave1949 · Jan 11, 2014

lutt said:
North bound they run at 850 RPM, but the pilots have the option of running 900 if conditions warrant. South bound varies, knuckled in, which is 357, idle is 350, up to full ahead if needed. They are a 2 stroke diesel. Computer controlled! We carry all our own spare parts, we do all our own repairs in house. Including all electrical systems, hydraulic, plumbing, welding, just more or less everything. We don't do crankshaft changeouts, those are beyond our capabilities, you have to split the block. We do our overhauls in house, around 30000 hrs. Crankcase holds 350 gallons of oil, plus whats in the filter pots and piping which would be around 425 total.LUTT

Neat! That's quite an operation. I sure don't think about all the behind the scenes work that goes on in something like that.

Do you do an engine overhaul on the go, or is there a down season when those things get done?

Wakey · Jan 11, 2014

Is this similar?

EMD V20-710 Start-up and rated load. The original video! - YouTube

LJH · Jan 11, 2014

lutt said:
North bound they run at 850 RPM, but the pilots have the option of running 900 if conditions warrant. South bound varies, knuckled in, which is 357, idle is 350, up to full ahead if needed. They are a 2 stroke diesel. Computer controlled! We carry all our own spare parts, we do all our own repairs in house. Including all electrical systems, hydraulic, plumbing, welding, just more or less everything. We don't do crankshaft changeouts, those are beyond our capabilities, you have to split the block. We do our overhauls in house, around 30000 hrs. Crankcase holds 350 gallons of oil, plus whats in the filter pots and piping which would be around 425 total.LUTT

Awesomeness, thanks for the reply!