Comfort, Ease, Versatility of Truck Mounted Drill Expands Footprint

Focused primarily on drilling for their own geotechnical investigations, Kenney Geotechnical Services has 10 employees and a couple of drill rigs running throughout upstate New York. The 17-year-old company began drilling services 10 years ago. Recently, they sought ways to more efficiently cover more territory to satisfy client needs.

“With our offices in Syracuse, it’s four hours to the northeast corner of New York and four hours to the southwest corner, so we have a big area to cover. Our 7822DT is versatile, but requires a trailer to haul to sites,” Chris Kenney, P.E., said. “With the 3100GT it’s a comfortable drive and then just pop up the mast and drill.”

The simplified mobility of the 3100GT truck mounted drill makes it cost effective to expand their footprint and compete with drillers who might be closer geographically to a site. Because it doesn’t require a Class A/B CDL to drive, it also expands their employee base capable of mobilizing to sites.

“Our geologists don’t need a CDL to drive the rig to the site,” Kenney said. “It’s difficult these days to get drillers, so anything we can do to make the job a little easier is better for everyone.”

The 3100GT provides the performance required for their standard scope of work and range of geological formations.

“Our work is typically to 30 feet, sometimes to 100 feet. The 3100GT is all we need and we can get around more quickly and economically than a bigger truck-mounted rig,” Kenney said. “The 3100GT does everything we need. We have highly variable soil conditions — a site can have glacial till full of boulders at one end and at the other end it’s 300 feet of soft clay to rock. The 3100GT can core rock just as easily as it takes Shelby tube samples or does mud rotary.”

Being easy to drive and a comfortable ride is top-of-mind when reflecting on rig features.

“The guys love driving the 3100GT and are always saying it rides like a Cadillac,” Kenney said. “As a boss, I don’t get complaints about having to drive the truck. Drilling is not an easy job. Anything we can do to make it easier is a plus.”

Easy also applies to learning how to run the truck mounted drill rig.

“The 3100GT is so easy to learn. Our engineers and geologists can operate the 3100GT themselves when needed,” Kenney said.

Versatility to perform various applications keeps the 3100GT out on a variety of jobs.

“We do primarily geotechnical drilling, but if we encounter a need to set environmental wells, it’s easy to switch over,” Kenney said. “It does everything — SPT, CPT, rock coring, setting piezometers and instrumentation, etc. The 3100GT definitely fits our needs.” 

All these attributes combine to keep the truck mounted drill rig busy.

“We’re doing twice as much work,” Kenney said. “Being a small business, when you get new equipment you’ve got to keep it busy and tend to worry whether it will be sitting idle. The 3100GT has certainly been busy the entire time.”

The industry-leading Geoprobe^® customer service also contributes to keeping the rig busy.

“We really like the way Geoprobe^® did things and customer service they provide. Anytime we need tooling or replacement parts, support can get us what we need quickly so we don’t lose any drilling time,” Kenney said. “We really appreciate everyone at Geoprobe^®. From the service guys, to Vic Rotonda [regional sales representative], they’re always a pleasure to work with and extremely helpful.”