Some call it a marsh buggy, swamp excavator or floating excavator, it’s all the same. With a REMU pontoon undercarriage, your excavator will have access to the most challenging environments.
If your business involves excavation or construction in swampy, water-logged, or marshy terrain, the amphibious excavator is an indispensable asset. Also referred to as a floating excavator, this machine is specifically engineered to operate efficiently in environments where traditional tracked excavators would fail or sink. Whether you’re involved in dredging, pipeline installation, environmental restoration, or wetland maintenance, an amphibious excavator gives your business a competitive edge by combining reach, power, and mobility in challenging environments.
An amphibious excavator is a specialized excavating machine equipped with sealed pontoons and a buoyancy-enhanced undercarriage. It is designed to float and operate in soft terrain, including swamps, shallow rivers, and floodplains, where traditional land-based machinery would be immobile. By integrating wide tracks mounted on pontoons filled with air compartments, an amphibious excavator remains stable and maneuverable on both water and soft ground.
Unlike standard excavators, a floating excavator does not rely solely on ground pressure or traction. Instead, its structure minimizes sinking while providing optimal support for digging, lifting, or material handling operations in partially submerged conditions.
The foundation of an amphibious excavator lies in its floating undercarriage. The pontoons act like boat hulls, displacing water and creating lift, allowing the machine to stay afloat while working in water depths of up to 1.8 meters (depending on model). Some models can be outfitted with side pontoons for added stability in deeper or more turbulent waters.
The machine’s hydraulic system and boom structure are identical to standard excavators, allowing it to handle various attachments such as buckets, dredging pumps, rakes, and long-reach arms. The key innovation lies in the self-propulsion paddles or track cleats, which help it navigate wet terrain and shallow waters without external towing.
Ensures ease of transport, assembly, and maintenance. Customizable to fit different excavator brands and models.
Built using marine-grade steel and protective coatings for long service life in wet environments.
Supports long-reach booms and heavy-duty dredging attachments.
Independent propulsion with track cleats or paddle wheels allows movement without towing.
Optional side pontoons improve balance and flotation in deeper or unstable water bodies.
Compatible with multiple tools, including cutter heads, suction pumps, and clamshell buckets.
Our REMU floating excavators are fully customizable, offering configurations that suit the exact depth, terrain, and scope of your operation.
REMU manufactures and supplies the entire undercarriage conversion kit which replaces the standard excavator undercarriage with the REMU built pontoon undercarriage system. Assembly can be performed on site, no modification to the excavator upper body required. All excavator controls and the 360º working radius remain the same as with a conventional excavator.
The Big Float is manufactured with high strength wear resistant steel for the best protection against external stress and impact. Each pontoon has five watertight compartments with manhole access on top of the pontoon. The carefully engineered geometry and dimensions of the undercarriage maximize its stability in all environments.
Utilizing standard excavator track chains and track rollers, provides an unbeatable service life of the wear components. Travel motors, coupled with planetary final drives, deliver high torque through drive sprockets directly to the track chains, eliminating the need for unreliable components.
Big Floats for excavators up to 22t class are designed with a hydraulically adjustable undercarriage width. The minimum width of fully assembled and operational amphibious excavator is only 3.0m – 3.5m (<10ft – <12ft), depending on the model.
An optional system of additional pontoons ensures safety whilst working in open water. Stability analysis and tipping load calculations have been carefully considered to meet the most stringent stability criteria. Hydraulically operated anchoring legs secure floating excavator to the bottom preventing it from drifting during operation.
Yes, Big Float pontoon undercarriage can be assembled with almost any excavator brand upper structure (including Caterpillar, Komatsu, Volvo, Hyundai, Doosan, Hitachi, John Deere, JCB, Liebherr, Yanmar, Takeuchi, and Bobcat amongst others) which gives our customers the freedom to choose the brand they prefer. Customers can also choose to mount Big Float with used upper structures which gives them option to convert excavator from their existing fleet.
Big Float is designed to perform. The most powerful travel motors in its class provide superior tracking power. Different configurations of track cleats provide options ranging from the lowest ground pressure to the strongest grip, depending on the customers’ requirements.
Yes. However, working in open water requires additional pontoons and anchoring legs that are designed to give the extra stability necessary for safe operation on open water.
Big Float is designed to last. We keep Big Float… an excavator! – heavy duty, reliable, dependable, durable, predictable in maintenance costs and schedule. Our customers appreciate the prolonged wear life of Big Float track system, it is a system that has been proven over 100 years by hundreds of thousands of conventional excavators. Standard excavator track chains, heavy duty track rollers, and a standard excavator track tensioning system – years of service life of the wear parts whilst operation in the harshest conditions.
We use standard, off-the-shelf parts. This makes it easy for us to support our customers with parts available in every corner of the world. When taking into consideration the operating costs of amphibious excavators, Big Float turns to be the most affordable. Several smart design features give savings in transportation, maintenance and boost the overall reliability of the machine.
Big Float allows the operator to pull the pontoons together or spread them apart without leaving the cab. Operators may set any width of the undercarriage between its minimum 3.0m – 3.5m (<10ft – <12ft) and maximum 4.6m – 5.5m (15ft – 18ft), depending on model. This allows safe transport whilst fully assembled and operational. The excavator fits in one single truck load and the retractable function is also useful when entering job sites through narrow access points like bridges.
Our sales managers are happy to help you in several languages. We have extensive cooperation networks that help us to be present even in remote locations and we also cooperate with several excavator dealers.
REMU has 25 years of experience in international trade and logistic processes. Our pontoons are designed to fit into sea containers which facilitates affordable shipping all over the world. When a machine is assembled in customers location, we can offer supervision services to ensure a smooth and safe assembly.
