Skip to main content
Rob Schippert, MSG Lead Driller, advancing 4.25 in. hollow stem augers for a riverbed boring.

Rob Schippert, MSG Lead Driller, advancing 4.25 in. hollow stem augers for a riverbed boring.

The Mannik & Smith Group Inc.’s (MSG) drilling division provided geotechnical investigation and engineering services for roadway, embankment, bridge abutment, and pier design in support of determining a new river crossing over the Maumee River in Napoleon, OH.

Working with the Henry County Engineer, Henry County Transportation Improvement District, and in accordance with Ohio Department of Transportation specs, MSG collected soil borings from both land and from the riverbed for new bridge abutment and pier foundations. Because of the steep banks on both sides of the river, MSG lowered all equipment, including their 7822DT, onto a barge with a crane, and performed 20-ft. deep rock cores at each of the seven proposed foundation locations.

This was the first time MSG performed such complex drilling operations, and not only were they on schedule, they also finished under budget.

“The 78 performed exceptionally well,”  said Christopher Riharb, Project Engineer and Drilling Coordinator for MSG. “It’s the little rig that could!  In addition to 10-ft. cores for the abutments, we took 20-ft. cores for bridge piers.”

MSG cored with the 7822DT prior to this job (mainly shallow 5-ft. confirmation cores on land) but this was the first large-scale, challenging job they attempted.  “And we were successful!” Christopher reported.  “Not only was the 78’s coring capability a big one on this, but so was its compact size.  By using the 7822DT, we saved a ton on a smaller crane and barge rental versus going with a full-size ATV rig to do the work.  Overall, we’re extremely happy with what we can do with our 78 and how it performs,” he said.

Contact Us

1835 Wall Street
Salina, Kansas 67401
Phone: (785) 825-1842

7822DT rotary drilling rigs capability with direct push finesse

7822DT Drill Rig

From crowded street corners to far removed places, tackle various environmental, geotechnical and exploration applications with a single machine combining rotary drilling and direct push, saving time and money required to mobilize multiple drill rigs.

Photo Gallery


Rob Schippert, MSG Lead Driller, advancing 4.25 in. hollow stem augers for a riverbed boring.
Because of the steep banks of the Maumee River, a 7822DT is lowered onto a barge for the start of a new river crossing geotechnical investigation in Ohio.
Because of the steep banks on both sides of the river, Mannik & Smith Group lowered their 7822DT onto a barge with a crane, and performed 20-ft. deep rock cores at each of the seven proposed foundation locations.
MSG used a 7822DT to complete 26 soil borings totaling 353 linear feet, including a total of 150 linear feet or rock coring using an N-sized core barrel.  The type of rock cored was mainly dark brown to black shale, slightly-to-moderately-weathered, thinly laminated, weak to moderately strong.
A 7822DT, owned and operated by Mannik Smith Group, heads down the Maumee River for the start of a geotechnical investigation to help determine a new river crossing for US24/US6 arterial corridors for residents and local businesses, including the world’s largest Campbell’s Soup plant.  The new bridge will provide a vital direct link between two industrial/office park areas of Napoleon/Henry County in Ohio.

Related Articles


As a project engineer with a Ph.D., Aaron Crowley desired to own his own company. So in May 2022 he partnered with Julie Oliphant, owner of Athena Engineering and Environmental, to launch a sister company ATHENA DRILLING to complete a range of geotechnica

ID: 13413 | Date:

For some air rotary drilling is a rarity, but for EICHELBERGERS INC in Pennsylvania it’s a weekly occurrence using their 7822DTs. They’ve completed air rotary to 220 feet; they’ve drilled using 8-inch and 10-inch casing. On one project they set 10-inch ca

ID: 13412 | Date:

Starting his drilling industry career as a consultant, David Draybuck discovered he didn’t love writing reports. So in 2011, he and his partner gathered funds from closed 401(k)s and an SBA loan to buy a piece of used equipment and launch ENVIROTECH DRILL

ID: 13409 | Date:

Established in 2017 to provide drilling services to geotechnical engineers — focusing on mud rotary technology, PG ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES struggled to break into the environmental market.

ID: 13407 | Date:

Passionate about delivering exceptional geotechnical, environmental, and instrumentation exploration services, the TERRACON CONSULTANTS INC office in Savannah, Georgia, went from being without in-house drilling resources in 2021 to running three Geoprobe®

ID: 13403 | Date: