New Excal II owner

[Fire Fighter 43]

With the price of gold where it's at I thought it was a good time to get into water hunting. I ordered a Excalibur II before the price increase and I had a 10% off EBay coupon so I got a great deal. I'm in the process of getting the rest of the gear I will need to jump into the water. Any advice for a new water hunter would be great.

[Schrecky]

Hope you like your EII as much as I like my EI.

I like to use mine hip mounted, less water resistance when swinging in deep water.

I put a wrap of yellow duct tape around the front and back sides of the coil so that I can see the coil in deep or murky water and then know where to place the scoop to dig.

I placed a piece of foam pipe insulation on the rod just below the cuff so that I can let go of the detector in water and the cuff end will float.

I did the same thing with my scoop, foam insulation near the top of the handle so that the handle will float when I let it go.

If you get a red Minelab pouch with your detector get yourself a grommet kit and install one or two grommets at the bottom of the large pocket. The holes in the grommets will allow water to drain out of the pocket but are to small for your treasures to fall out.

Put your valuable finds in one of the zipper pockets so they don't get lost.

If the water is to deep or murky to see your coil, pinpoint your target, slide your foot up to the rear of the coil, place your scoop at that point to take a scoop.

If you are going to be digging in hard packed sand, clay, gravel you will need a heavy duty long handle scoop, this is mine http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/dschreckengost/scoop.jpg It is very heavy duty and I can put all my weight against it, it is heavy.

I've found gold rings in the water at the beach everywhere from knee deep to chest deep. It seems that the deeper you are the better the chances of a good find with less junk than in shallow water, but the good stuff is also in the shallow water.

If you find a good target check the surrounding area well, it is not unusual to run into pocket spills.

Most people tend to hunt the most popular beaches, as do I, but the less popular beaches also produce gold finds and might not be as heavily hunted.

As compared to inland hunting, a beach can be hunted out the day before a holiday (4th of July) and be replenished after the holiday. It's good to go to a beach during a busy time to observe where the crowds gather both in the water and out.

Once you get use to scooping a target you can scoop them up in one or two attempts, however every once in a while you'll get one where you scoop and scoop. I think that some times you can shove the target deeper into the sand with your scoop or you can miss it with one attempt and leave it in the side of the hole and it then slides down into the hole you dug.

Hope this gives you some ideas, good luck.

[pulltabsteve]

Great tips Shrecky!! Being surrounded by beaches here on Long Island, I have to get myself a water detector someday. Good luck FF43. Looking forward to seeing some cool water finds from you in the near future :beerbuddy:

[Fire Fighter 43]

Thanks for the tips Shrecky. I can see you've been in the water before. They are all things I had not thought of.

Jeff

[Ill Digger]

:shocked04: I thought you said you were thinking about get a EX. lol Boy that took all of a week and a half to think over ! lol
Does this mean we should que the Taps for the V3 ? :huh:

Taps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xrlf3taEo#)

I can't wait to see how you do with it. Good luck thumbsup01

[jkress]

Very helpful info Schrecky. Kind of makes me want to give it a whirl. :yes:

Congrats on the new machine FF43. I can't wait to see your first couple of hunts posted here. Here's hoping your first good recovery with it pays for the machine. :beerbuddy:

[leslie(nova scotia)]

From the land of the Bluenose.....good luck with the new machine and bring home the gold youz!

[Fire Fighter 43]

:shocked04: I thought you said you were thinking about get a EX. lol Boy that took all of a week and a half to think over ! lol
Does this mean we should que the Taps for the V3 ? :huh:

Taps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xrlf3taEo#)

I can't wait to see how you do with it. Good luck thumbsup01



Yeah Tim I think the V3 is got to go, 3 top of the line machines is a little too much. I pulled the trigger because of the increase in price and my EBay coupon