Lift'N'Hold:
Hydrofoil dredges self surface when towed in the opposite direction to the main tow but immediately sink when the power is taken off. I thought what is the point in self surfacing if the dredge does not stay on the surface? To fix this problem I designed and built a device that is fitted to the front of the yoke chains on all of my dredges and named it the Lift/N/Hold device. Once you have your dredge on the way up or on the surface on the reverse tow you shoot a carabina clip roped to a float down the tow rope. One the carabina has passed over the Lift'n'Hold device and the float over the dredge head you back off the power and the dredge is trapped on the surface.
This not only makes scallop dredging a lot less physically demanding but more importantly makes recovering your dredge a lot safer. |
