The Down Side To GPZ Insanely Hot Settings

[Condor]

I went back out this morning to the first area that has far less trash to work on this boot thing.  I extended the detector shaft all the way out and made an effort to swing out away from my boots.  I fashioned  a hipstick out of a fiberglass tent pole to help transfer the weight of the coil onto the belt of my pack.  It worked pretty good as long as I was going slow.  Anytime I picked up the pace bypassing obstacles and such that right boot was giving me a beep.  It's workable, I'm really liking the support and stiffer sole for walking in rough terrain. 

I did manage to find this fellow.  Frankly any detector would have found this.  I think it got washed out of the bank and settled in the upper layer of gravel after the last storm.  

[mn90403]

I have been out there and you have to know where to hunt.  It is not luck Steve.

Mitchel

[Condor]

6 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I have been out there and you have to know where to hunt.  It is not luck Steve.

Mitchel

Hey Mitchel,

You know me, I try to cover a lot of ground and keep swinging.  I was still suffering back pains when we met up last spring so I was giving up early.  My back is now as good as ever, which ain't saying much.  I really found this zone by accident on my way to somewhere else.  The advantage of living 30 minutes from the gold fields and the luxury of retirement so I can get out often to explore.  The weather is killing me, I was out for just over an hour and sweated through everything I had on.  I carry a dry shirt for the drive home.  I'm not all tight assed about my spots, I'll point you right to the zone when you get back down here.  

[beatup]

Keep em coming Steve

[mn90403]

Steve,

Yes, I know you are a great guy to hunt with.  You don't want anyone to go home without a find.  But over the years you have grown up there and again for the most recent hunts ... YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF ... was my point.  Now you're pushing the limits of the machine and doing even more.  All respect to you.

Mitchel

[RedDirtDigger]

Hi Condor, re coil interference from metal on your body,a solution that helped me was to make a longer upper shaft. I mainly did it because I am tall and the standard Zed shaft is too short for tall operators to use the machine with a comfortable upright stance.

I purchased a 1 Metre length of 28mm OD rolled carbon fibre tube (from ebay -china if none available locally) . Its exactly the same tube Minelab use on their GPZ shaft.
I have cut it down to 810mm (that makes it 160mm/6+inches longer then the standard Zed shaft).  
I needed some thin auto cable to pull the coil cable connector up the shaft a few inches so I could connect it. I checked out the coil cable stretch/tension on a tape measure before I cut the shaft to length. The extra length is stretching the curley coil lead to about the max tension that I am happy with.
The shaft clamps hold the tube snuggly in place with no guides needed to be glued on the tube. Actually I had to lightly sand off the tube slightly where the lower clamp risers make contact to allow the clamp to be locked down.   I have marked the upper end of the tube to tell me when it is extended to the max length I can have. (not having the positioning guides on the shaft like the Minelab one does not matter at all as they are only there to align the coil horizontally...the clamps hold the shaft in position)

The longer shaft keeps the coil a further 6-8 inches away from my body and has stopped most interference. I connect my shock cord at the top of the coil shaft and it gives me comfortable coil control when swinging. I have used the longer shaft setup for months in rough conditions and it works well.

The longer shaft should help a lot when the 19 inch coil finally arrives.

Cheers RDD

PS. nice nuggies, keep em coming.