Tony

From my earlier experience running the Garrett Sea Hunter, the reduction in depth from the larger coil (14x9) to the smaller 8” coil wasn’t nearly as bad I thought it would be. I believe it was in the order of maybe a couple of inches on average coin/ring sized targets.......that little 8” coil in rough saltwater was sensational and my gold tally increased significantly......it never came off again. I used to run a modified Aquapulse AQ1B and I recall similar results from the big 15” coil and then moving to the 10” coil. Leave the big coils for the hardpan and lower beach low tides 👍 I plan to fit out my TDIBH with a 10” coil.....as big as I’ll go for water work !

I’ll take those photos for you tomorrow in the daylight 👍

Detector is now disassembled.....very easy but I took plenty of photos of the board layout just to be sure. Two points were desoldered (second photo) and the coil wires slipped out nicely. Just waiting if I can get the 3 spoke coil sent to me. Some pictures of the surgery........I will add that replacing the gasket is a bit tricky but make sure it goes on dry and no silicone grease on the gasket. Once the gasket is seated I find that adding a thin coat of silicone grease to the top cover where it seats with the gasket helps slide the cover on evenly and prevents any gasket bunching up. Only tighten the screws enough to slightly compress the oring.....do not over tighten otherwise the plastic tabs can crack. Tighten the screws a bit at a time and from side to side checking how well the gasket is seating. Stage 2 hopefully soon 👍

Keep us posted on this project......sounds very promising 👍

Thanks Kac......The buoyancy problem with a smaller 8” foam filled coil is probably okay as I got by alright with the bigger 12” dual field...it was more the resistance and coil flop that was the problem in rough water. All of my coils are coated several times with Plasti-Dip.......great protection from rocks.

That’s good to know......8” is such a good size for the rougher water and poor viz

I have been watching out for those coils but very hard to find. Hopefully the three spoke coil becomes a reality.....fingers crossed 👍

There may be a fourth option and my first choice......hope to find out soon. This style.....⬇️

All okay....I have access to all these coils locally and for about the same price.

I have decided to finally swap out my big 12” Dual field coil on my TDIBH for something smaller. The purpose is to use in the water. I have some pros and cons with each model so feel free to add any ideas you have. Coiltek Platypus 12x8. Waterproof, epoxy filled. Maybe too long on the 12” side which sees the most water resistance Detech 8” Mono. Foam filled so more buoyant but not too worried as 2/3 the size of the Dual Field coil. Good size. Waterproof. Garrett 8” Mono coil. Waterproof, epoxy filled. Good size. Suitable for lower delays? Garrett coil Coiltek coil Detech coil

Thanks Joe for the PM.......sorry by previous post was a bit off topic and drifted somewhat.

Joe Do the best winds for you flatten the water down or help lower the water levels? I can see with your inlets and bays that it is site dependant on which way the best winds blow. I was curious to know. Down here, nearly all beaches are in a North/South line so any winds from NE to SE flatten the ocean down nicely bu swells still sneak in somewhat unless these winds are sustained for some time.....which is quite often in summer when it heats up.

I guess there’s still a place for a good VLF.......would only have dug 15 of those targets being the coins and pull tabs. With the AQ, can you not eliminate the bigger targets by profiling with the coil ?

Now to work out the best way to connect these to the CTX3030 style fitting that I have on my Excalibur ??

Time to read some of the extensive battery threads on 18650 custom battery setups. Im sure Steve will post some links. But essentially, no one is using AA lithium’s to achieve this extra voltage.

Agree emphatically on the battery capacity........I can easily hunt for 8 hours which my TDIBH battery pack fortunately gives me (4x18650). Fisher must find a way to achieve this run time ☝️

Great hunt.....I love those all night hunts in the shallow water.......and I mean shallow water only !

Yep the TDIBH is a very good detector and will deliver when it can. The AQ has about 15% extra punch but successful hunting has a lot to do with confidence in equipment as the TDIBH does that for me........I’m sure the AQ does the same !

I think the intent here is to let the wave and swell motion move the coil across the sea floor as this will reduce the salt signal as the coil and salt water “target” move as one. I always do this when possible as it’s also less fatiguing. In my rough hunting conditions, sometimes I say to Mother Nature....”so where are you taking me this time?” On more than one occasion, I have been swept along and detected a nice gold ring that I probably would never have detected over.

Clive’s been “outed”......no where to hide or run 😬

Okay, having not used the AQ, it sounds like the Sensitivity function impacts the detector far more than other PI detectors that I have used.

This is intelligent use of the PI detector......having a stable machine will get more gold rather than running quick delays that will have a PI screaming all day long. I don’t care if I miss some small scraps of gold because the bigger pieces won’t be missed.

I fully understand.....I will still always choose a setting that has both a good response to most gold and minimal response to salt. If that means running at 20us to 25uS then I’m okay with that. With high salt content and quick moving saltwater then sometimes it’s the only choice and it’s a smart move. There’s a reason why detectors such as the discontinued Tesoro Sand Shark had a minimum start delay of about 25uS......you might miss the really smaller gold but you’d always hear the bigger gold and with a nice even threshold to make hours of saltwater detecting pleasurable. Depth on larger and higher karat gold rings are usually not disadvantaged with a slower delay (typically around the 15uS to 20uS) mark. 👍

Yes to this ⬆️

Generally speaking, and with regard to PI performance, it is preferable to reduce any Gain or Sensitivity settings before any Pulse/Reject settings. I would rather hunt at 10uS and a low Gain rather than 15uS and a high Gain.