Our elder son, Randall, is working for a local drilling contractor. He will be rebuilding cable tool and mud rotary drills for us in his spare time.
Our son, Chris (known as Piglet), is continuing to sell well drilling machines internationally and then offers the option of teaching the purchaser’s employees the maintenance and proper operation of their equipment.
He was scheduled to return to Nigeria in the later part of April to negotiate the sale of a Bucyrus-Erie 22-W there and then teach the purchaser’s employees the proper maintenance and operation of the drill.
Recently, the owner of an almost new truck-mounted DeepRock DR150 in Long Island, N.Y., knew that very few people would want to come to Long Island to consider purchasing a drill, so he shipped it to our location in Virginia Beach, Va. At that time, we didn’t have a secure spot to store it.
The shipper’s truck driver delivered the rig and associated equipment from Long Island to our specified location in Virginia Beach. The driver wasn’t qualified to drive a truck and we doubted that he had a CDL license. The driver nearly turned the rig and trailer over trying to negotiate a turn.
To lower the drill’s height the truck driver had let the air out of all the tires until they were flat, which wasn’t necessary since it was below his truck’s overhead exhaust before letting air out of the tires.
Upon arriving at the delivery location, all six of the tires were flat so Piglet was forced to unload the drill with the flat tires being careful not to damage them. Once the drill was unloaded, we left it and had to drive some 50-plus miles to rent a compressor to blow the tires up again.
The DeepRock DR150 is like new with very few miles on the truck and low hours on the rig. It includes the brand’s exclusive OTTO drill stem loader, a Rupp mud pump, 300 feet of drill stem, hoses, bits and etc. It has a hammer oiler and water/foam injection with a 2-inch connection for air drilling. It’s a great geothermal and water well drill.
In the meantime, DCI is looking for a rural property to buy near Virginia Beach where we can re-manufacture cable tool and mud rotary drills for resale. We refer people looking for air rotaries to East West Drilling Inc., www.ewdrilling.net.
Our primary business is teaching well and geothermal drilling.
Look for Porky, Piglet and Bess this month at the South Atlantic Well Drillers Jubilee in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
For more Porky columns, visit www.thedriller.com/porky.
