Skull diver

Okay, this time more than celebrating a period of good production, I am keeping in mind the worst dates of this summer and taking action for next year.... Although we are only a month away from peak beach attendance, to date, I have encountered more than three weeks of bad swells and have spent few sessions on the bottom and more time at the wetsand. As expected, the result is that the fresh drops are probably too deep to manifest themselves and a few pieces of really old gold, perhaps not caught in the obviously eroded spots, is all I can take away for now. Last Monday this very old ring, now devoid of stone, was the only prominent piece on the seafloor besides several coins dug out at three different beaches on the wet sand. In miles of sand on which I have walked and checked, not a single piece of gold and a very small amount of coins when diluted over so much space. The prevailing wind is screwing up "my" coast with a majority of inshore and bloody filling in more sand. I am tired beyond comment and have started using my left arm to lead the detector. I fear I have epicondylitis. Have a great weekend everyone!

I want to remain neutral and do not take a position for or against any coil regarding Manticore. Unfortunately, I am afraid I cannot understand the behavior of the M9 compared to the M11 and M8. I would have expected less noise with two inches less and this is not the case. I would have expected better separation and sensitivity at small targets, but I see that the M11 uncovers bits that I cannot see with the naked eye while with the M9 strangely not. The M8 I still cannot find the words to comment on. I think I've used it 70 percent of the time since I got my Manticore and I've paid the instrument back on it in 55 days.... I also had the misfortune of damaging the cable, but all this well after using the coil.In fact I caused the damage to the cable just by going back to using the M8 and removing the M9 to keep it aside.

I don't know about You, but recently and with this temperature I hate to wear a watch and even more to rely on my phone when searching on wetsand with some wave energy. Otherwise I'd be underwater without a stormy sea and even there there's no "time connection" to have an idea of how much I've been under the surface. I found myself thinking to a hiding function somewhere in the menu but apparently Minelab forgot totally to add a f###ing clock in the software 😑. Never thought of needing so much a neglected thing...

I think the greatest treasure is the moments experienced out there. Sometimes I lose the wonder of my surroundings at the bottom of the sea no matter how focused I am on unearthing gold, but then I think back to the quiet of some less crowded days with the sunrise as a backdrop and understand that I can never stop.

Nice! Good karma on the phone's return and one cherry to taste... Similarly I found a diving mask on the seabed this morning and donated it to two swimmers in my diving trajectory...Going away from the beach I casually dug up the only good steady signal...bang🏴‍☠️

I thank you for the explanation and photos of the soldering details on the pcb. I'm afraid this time I don't want to dare so much on the original control box until complete destruction. I have given up on modifying even a very old CTX. I am beginning to think that the problem of depth-limited resistance is a deliberate factor in causing a new purchase. Five meters still remains a big limit for a diver.

Congratulations. I hope to get close to even half of that next week.... Insane energy for this period and poor results when safe to dive. I'm pissed!...

Can't tell since how much time I'm searching for a rope link chain like that🫢...I damn want one...In the end I bought a silver one on Amz🚽tired to wait and cause the 18K type sounds crazy to afford at today's price 😂. Aniway congrats for the hunt and I found the "one" suspected to be hot stuff... Unluckily on her's website there's no trace of metal description 😑 and the base price seems on the other hand to be way cheap for the minimum weight of it...Nice colour as always and good polished prospect 🏴‍☠️

Easy to find it on Amzn I think...Or directly on their website cause in Italy it is a popolar brand too. Thanks Simon!

Although I have been using plastic cable ties for years, I have never damaged the cables. This time I damaged the sheathing with wire cutters by removing the cable tie. There is no other explanation because it is a clean cut and there is no trace of pressure under the area where the plastic cable tie tightens. Anyway, yes, it was a rookie mistake and I marvel at the way I did this damage with such distraction.

Thanks to all of you for suggestions! I'll wait a couple days till the wire shows no green rotting evidence... I recently used a different black hot glue particularly flexible and gummy. If it goes like I hope I'll proceed filling the sheath gap over the wires first and seal with shrinking tubes or tape like your explanations... The bad thing it is that I remember what happens when saltwater creeps into the cables. It is a slow process, irreversible, and sooner or later oxidation devours the properties of the cables, making them rotten. Aniway I don't complain here. That's just diver's life sh### and it happens slightly more frequently than on firm land🚽

That's my fault for sure. Zip ties hardness against salt exposed cable and this is the supposed final result. When I switched weeks ago the M9 in favour of the M8 I've created the damage with the cutter. Back to the M9 yesterday, I discovered just under the surface that something was going bad. If I'm lucky and the cable isn't rotting with corrosion yet, maybe some hot glue and a shrinking sheath can do. Let's hope...

Week started not great when I think about the fact that for about 15 days bad waves kept me out. It wasn't until yesterday that I was able to dive safely when I discovered I had a serious instability problem with the coil. The M9 was making terrible noise at whatever level I set the Manticore and by pure chance I managed to pull out three stainless steel rings before leaving the area in despondency. Back home, it was not until yesterday afternoon that I was able to see that I had a cut on the coil cable with the wires exposed. This morning with the M8 back at work, in disbelief, I unearthed an 18K snake ring among the same holes as yesterday, where I had most likely passed by without noticing the signal among all the perceived noise. Ever since I started visiting old spots with the M8, this has been the longest period without seeing gold also accomplice to the bad wave energy. Monday, it's back to the drawing board. Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe!

To be fair, this is what caused the strange behavior of the detector during the past few sessions. I'm pretty sure I personally caused the damage, but I can certainly recommend using only fabric ties and Velcro to hold the wiring along the rod in place. I am in doubt at the moment whether to proceed with a thermogun casting or send the coil to Minelab for assistance. I doubt that replacing the 'whole wire is possible as a solution,given the resin drowned block.

Well, after almost two weeks out of the water, I just used on the wetsand the M9 for a couple days, leaving the M8 to rest for a little. So this morning I was approaching the deeper waters and after half an hour or so, a crazy noise started out of the blue. No sensitivity detuning or noise cancel or GB or program change worked to keep the machine quiet. Turned off and re-turned on, nothing, same conduct. At a certain point, really tired by all that noise, I managed to change the min. & max. Pitch lower to avoid ears overstress in the depth audio mode and simple profile (the only combination for a neat strong signal). This solved just partially the problem and finally I've been able to hear signals by three SS rings that were in the area. I passed and crossed the tight space in every possible way till silence, but I mean by objects. My Manticore seems to get crazy without a reason and in spite of the longer lower shaft to avoid the rod lock bolt interference or the usual tight cable on the upper part, it remains to understand what is happening. Later I'll carefully dry it out and clean as usual to change the coil and try with the M8. If at that point the noise goes away, I'm maybe the owner of a faulty M9. This is the fourth or fifth session I dive with it... Let's hope for the coil or I'll be forced to ship the Manti to the doctor😑