johnedoe

I have to say I agree with your assessment. When the day comes that my V3i finally gives up the ghost I will probably be done with detecting.... Even now I have to say I just don't get out like I used to.... Health and interest have both been in decline.

Are there any rumors of Garrett maybe reintroducing the V3i? I hate to see such a great machine go away.

Excellent write up phrunt...👍

Any word on what they are going to do with the Whites technology they bought?

Looking forward to your next trip.... Wish you luck and heavy pans.....

Here is a better look at the Miners moss and dam......

I have to tell you I have no experience with dream mats personally. From the reports of other users they will definitely not perform in my situation and use so I won't waste my time, money, and energy. As with anything some love them some hate them... In either case they are overpriced in my opinion. The thing that I have against them is the lack of capture area compared to the actual size of the mat in use. There is a lot of dead space. I personally prefer Deep "V" , Sawtooth , some miners moss , and last, magnetic ..... UR and Motherload are very good mats for a good range of gold sizes and shapes. I find the best place for the miners moss is directly under the drop zone from the the hopper. It will help catch the courser gold as it falls from the classifier and help smooth the water flow before it hits the riffles. I use 2 layers of miners moss with a baffle on the downstream side of the moss.... It holds it firmly in place and also acts as a stop of migration. The first pic shows the placement of the miners moss in my sluice. Below that is a short section of vortex 12", then a section of sawtooth 24", Then a section of Deep "V" 24". Then the last bit is 24" of magnetic sheet. Now this particular configuration would not work for you, a couple of reasons why is size..... and size....lol. The system is 16" wide and the sluice is 92" long. This is a beach sluice and as you can see not suited for much above 1/8" material. So, with all that said the bottom line is you have to identify the ground and type of gold you will be working..... If you have a lot of course gold you will do better with more traditional riffle sizes. If you are dealing predominately with fine gold you will want to setup to be able to capture that which is very low riffles..ie. Deep V mat or URmat or motherhood mat.... these mats maintain a smooth water flow yet when tuned offer good material action to help the fine gold settle. Anyway if this has got ya thoroughly confused drop me a line and I will do what I can to answer your questions. Heavy pans.

Nice little high banker.... However I can not share your enthusiasm about the dream mat .... Something else you might consider is a smaller pump. 2000 GPH is a bit much for a 6" sluice. Try an 1100 GPH pump with some test material and see how it handles it. You are classified to what appears to be 1/4" which is good so water flow and sluice angle is all you need to dial in. The other advantage of an 100 GPH pump is they use considerably less power than the 2000 so you won't need as big a battery... Not trying to tell you how to do it just offering some suggestions for you to consider.... Heavy pans.

This is excellent news...... I am excited to see what comes from this

Fantastic job..... Well done.....

I did not know him but his passing saddens me.... Rest in peace Tim.

It is a real shame Whites didn't embrace change and innovation. The V3i was an incredible leap and they let it die on the vine... Don't get me wrong I still have my Whites machines and will only replace them whey they no longer function. Of course there is a very good possibility I may be non functional before that time......

What kind of recovery equipment were you using. There is a real technique to recovering fine beach gold. and many factors come into play in the process. Water flow, sluice angle, feed rate, material size, and mats ..... all have to work together. The gold cube is great since it is already setup for the proper angle. This then leaves you with 3 factors that have to balance and that is water flow rate and feed rate, and classification of material if it is a mix of pebbles and cobble and sand. If it is all sand your golden and no classification is required... As to mats the cube comes with good mats out of the box..... You do have to make sure ALL air pockets in the mats are cleared since the fine gold will just float across the top of those little bubble pockets. Water flow rate is also very easy since those rates are already part of the GC system which is an 1100 GPH pump. However using unto 1500 GPH also works quite well..... This now only leaves you with 2 more variables Material size...Which should be less than 1/8th inch and feed rate. You have to allow the mats to work.... You can't just drop a shovel full of sand on them and expect good results.

I don't know what area you are in but if I were you I would be running that black sand through a beach sluice or a gold cube..... Take a look at my thread on beach mining.

LOL.... Never entered my mind either....