21 JANUARY 2025 WorldWide Drilling Resource® by Tim Rasmussen Water for Life is moving closer to realizing our goal of having a newer rotary rig to increase our ability to drill more wells to serve the people in remote villages in Guatemala. As mentioned last month, this is a project we have been working toward for a while. We have encountered many obstacles, but have worked through them successfully. Merle Hoover of East West Drilling in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, has also been working to help Water for Life. He had his crews working on the rig, a 1989 SIMCO 2800 HS (HT) drill, retrofitting it for water well drilling. After months of effort, it is finally ready to be mounted on a truck. The retrofit involved several things: c A sand line for well bailing needed to be added. It needed to run at 250+/- feet per minute. The drum capacity needed to be 400-500 feet of 5/16-inch cable. c One deck engine needed to be increased to 80-100 horsepower (hp). We figured we needed about 60 hp for the mud pump and 25 hp for the hydraulics. c The cathead needed to be removed and the Moyno pump, pump suction pipes, and other items not needed for water well drilling needed to be removed as well. We wanted a camlock fitting directly onto the mud pump. c The drill table needed to be modified so it could be locked in position onto the back of the truck when the mast is up. Having the tophead drive will give us many advantages we have not had previously. c Wrenches, hoisting plugs, and tooling for drill rods were also needed. We will be using ten-foot rods in Guatemala, and wanted some type of rack to hold the rods. c We already have a 750-cfm compressor rebuilt to factory specifications and will be mounted on a refurbished 1981 International truck which has a mechanical (not electronic) DT466 engine. This truck is purchased and will be shipped at the same time. This will give us the capability of drilling with air or mud. All of these modifications were completed by East West Drilling. We also needed some adapters to mate up to other threads. We can figure this out completely when we are finally ready to go. In a developing country like Guatemala, the SIMCO rig with the configuration we have planned, and with the continued providence of the Good Lord, will serve the people for many years to come. If you would like to help, contact Gary Bartholomew at 509-939-1941. Tim Tim Rasmussen may be contacted via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com WTR
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk4Mzk=