Bear

Snowing in Fairbanks too

Yes the frame is removable. If you take the frame off it makes it more like an assault pack. I liked that medium ruck when I had one in the Army. There have been issues with the full sized polymer MOLLE frame but I never heard of any with that one.

Hopefully all the snow insulates the creeks from freezing to deep. As Mineit said Fairbanks has been cold. Not the extreme temperatures but constantly cold.

Thank you for the info. Really I am just feeling it out if I need additional flotation. I bought the dredge with the bigger motors and pumps to either place the dredge farther away while in the cut because tailings become a problem or work in deeper water. The plan this summer is to go to a spot along a river where I know the bedrock is deep. I another thread about anchoring I explained how I use cable and a haven grip tied up high. This does keep the front of the dredge up.

I purchased a newer Keene 6” mini dredge last year with GX270 motors and PHP 500 pumps. I used it quite a bit last summer but it was all in the old mine cuts that we dredge in. Not once in a river. The suction is unbelievable. My question does anyone have experience with the bigger motors needing more floats because of the weight? The motors themselves are 20 lbs more a piece and not to mention all of the weight from the water volume and hoses being bigger. Keene makes the outriggers with floats for them. I was going to make something similar uses two 30 gallon poly drums.

I know I am coming to the thread late but here are my two biggest nuggets. The nugget on the right I found with a GP Extreme when I first moved to Alaska in 2003. It was the second nugget I ever found with a metal detector because I found my first one earlier that day. It was 8 grams. I posted about the one the left on here a few years ago. I dredged it in 2016 when I was moving out of AK. It weighs 16.8 grams. My plan is to detect a little more next summer but I always say that.

What a cool post. A lot of dredgers I have talked to do not like the newer Keene foot valves like the ones that you have. They are not as robust and do not hold a prime very well. Keene uses them because they are less restrictive allowing more water in the intake hose. I have them on my dredge and have notice they do not hold a primes like the older punch plate ones do. Anyway I have often wondered about motor upgrades to get more horse power for more water. With limited research most of the parts even inexpensive. My concern would be the life of the motor.

That's a nice rig. It has inspired me to turn my old molle belt into my detecting kit. I noticed you lanyard everything off too. I learned that lesson climbing and crawling around Crow Creek AK. Never again.

Thank I have been waiting for a post from you as well. Always informative and well written. I think it would be cool to find a large placer silver nugget. When I was a kid I found a little bit of native silver in quartz in Utah. I have a piece of the rock but the rest of it is at my parents house in the piles of rock that I still have there.

Congratulations. That is a nice nugget for a "1st" This is my favorite part of the forum. I metal detect but not a whole lot so I don't comment to much over there. Dredging is my real passion.

Thank you gentlemen. I was able to get the bullet onto the hose by using a little of all of the techniques and the help of a friend. We first cut down along the ribs of the old hose and pulled most of it out like a Accordion. We heated the remaining glue with a torch which came right out with a wire brush on a drill. I started to use a rasp on the hose but switched to a side grinder which preped it pretty fast. We checked the fitting as we went. We wanted to keep it tight for a little friction. We got it to the point where when we slid the bullet on the hose it got tight with about 2 1/2 inches left before Bottoming out. Also we only ground up the house about 5". Slathered up both the hose and the bullet with E-6000, slid the hose in and pushed it all the way to the bottom. I let the hose sit over night propped standing up with the bullet on the floor because that E-6000 will run a little bit. Checked it this morning, came out great. Just need to trip a little excess glue off.

Thank you for the info. It is a 6" inch. I will remove a little of the hose prior to inserting it. SJM did you heat the hose or the coupler? I bet if you heated the coupler too that it would expand it out like a fly wheel like older ring gears for fly wheels on general motor truck. In the past I have glued them in with E 6000.

To start with I think the Keene over size jets and couplers are great. Over the last few weeks of dredging I can count on one hand how many plugs I had had in the jet. People had told me in the past they have had trouble with them sucking air. What I do is double up the gasket with a cam lock gasket to make a good seal. The problem I am having is getting the coupler on to a new hose. I have put a few of the couplers on the years but it is always so difficult to get it to go all the way on. I was wondering if anyone had a good technique or procedure to make it easier?

Looks great. I hope you do find a lot of gold with it. i am going out dredging again this weekend. I will post an update next week.

Mine is based on my last name Barrera. Through out my time in the Army I have been called the Bear. Sometimes it was the Bipolar Bear when I was a Platoon Sergeant. I was known to flip the switch pretty quick to get this going. Always for for a purpose.