Looking For Advice On Detector...

[cudamark]

21 hours ago, Jim in Idaho said:

Thank you, Cudamark. I'm thinking of the AT Max, sorta.  But, wish it had larger coils. I may just go with Steve's suggestion, and make a watertight bag to go over the entire TM808, and make an extension for the headphone cable. I've got a lead bar the exact size of the assumed gold bars, and the 808 sees it at 33", which is about as good as it gets...but no discrimination, and that might mean a whole bunch of under water digging, which would be a deal-killer. I may be over-thinking the need for discrimination, however. I'm also thinking of the DFX with a 14" coil. In Prospect mode it sees the lead bar at 30", and I could set it up to discriminate, even in prospect mode, I think.

Jim

Jim

Agreed, a waterproof two box would be the way to go if you can keep it at an even level with the river bottom. So would just about any good gold prospecting detector from Minelab or Garrett if you don't need discrimination. As for using an AT Max, in my testing, an Equinox with the 12 X 15" coil goes deeper than any currently available coil you can put on the AT Max.

[GotAU?]

This sounds fun, even if you don’t get anything. Put “the search” on YouTube and get a good actor to drum it up on the raft, you’ll probably make more ad money than gold, but who knows?

Good luck and post the results here when you are finished!

[1515Art]

Jim, I’ve got an 11” Deus low frequency coil you can have if you want you’d need to pick up a controller, charger and probably the underwater adaptor for the wireless to work, but the coil being basically the detector and as light weight as it is might work for what you need and cost less overall than another whole detector.

[Jim in Idaho]

1 hour ago, 1515Art said:

Jim, I’ve got an 11” Deus low frequency coil you can have if you want you’d need to pick up a controller, charger and probably the underwater adaptor for the wireless to work, but the coil being basically the detector and as light weight as it is might work for what you need and cost less overall than another whole detector.

Hey Clark, Hope all is well with you. I'll take a rain check on that offer. because of the great depth it offers, I'm going to try the TM808, which I already have. If that idea doesn't work, I'll get back to you.

Jim

[Jim in Idaho]

2 hours ago, GotAU? said:

This sounds fun, even if you don’t get anything. Put “the search” on YouTube and get a good actor to drum it up on the raft, you’ll probably make more ad money than gold, but who knows?

Good luck and post the results here when you are finished!

LOL...the results are going to be "I didn't find anything" no matter what happens.

Jim

[nebulanoodle]

Sounds like you'll be founding a river recycling company is what you'll find!

[sevastras]

That would be over $10,000,000 in gold, buy the most expensive set up possible and hire a crew! If it is actually there of course.  I would wait until the water goes down later in the summer and wade.  Also, knowing your area pretty well, it isnt too far until you hit pretty solid rock on the bottom of any of those creeks so I doubt much depth would be needed at all.  I would bet on gold stashes in the lava fields before the creeks, but I would break an ankle or get bit by a snake before I found anything.

[Jim in Idaho]

On 5/4/2021 at 10:54 AM, GB_Amateur said:

First, I did a quick calc and the size bar you indicated would weigh 121 kg (267 lb) if pure gold.  That size bar would have to have a specific gravity of about 9 (right around copper) to weigh 125 lb.  So even accounting for less than pure gold (e.g. if someone just melted a bunch of nuggets and/or fine gold) it would still be heavier than that.

You didn't say how deep you expect the gold to be, other than you want the coil to be able to be submersible to 24".

Would auto tracking work at the presumably slow speeds you will be moving this raft?  And would the detector be required to run in non-motion all metal -- e.g. what is typically pinpoint mode on most IB/VLF's?

I'm not great on suggestions but hopefully my above questions/concerns will help you refine your requirements.

Yeah..I got that wrong. Should be about 7 x 16 x 1 1/2 And, these bars are about 80% pure...what they call Dore' bars.

Jim

[Jim in Idaho]

19 hours ago, sevastras said:

That would be over $10,000,000 in gold, buy the most expensive set up possible and hire a crew! If it is actually there of course.  I would wait until the water goes down later in the summer and wade.  Also, knowing your area pretty well, it isnt too far until you hit pretty solid rock on the bottom of any of those creeks so I doubt much depth would be needed at all.  I would bet on gold stashes in the lava fields before the creeks, but I would break an ankle or get bit by a snake before I found anything.

Actually, the gravel is really deep. No way to know if the bars are actually there. The story says there were 3 bars, and one was found on a gravel bar, a few years later, by a cowboy chasing cows. I had thought to wait until later in the summer...that's a good point.

Jim