Hand Dredge?

Rebel73153

Rebel73153

Sr. Member
Aug 12, 2010
396
33
Roseburg,Oregon
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
So what is the consensus on the Hand Suction dredges? Do they work? Are they a waste of money? Since Cal. has banned motorized dredging, and what they do seems to follow suit up here in Liberal Land(Oregon) i have been thinking about buying one. So if they work, which one or which size, do you all recommend?
 

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After using my hand dredge for a short while this weekend for the first time,
I couldn't get my gold vac out of the truck fast enough to start using it instead. :laughing7:
Guess if you have never used a vac then the hand dredge is better than nothing.

The hand dredge I built incorporated two check valves so I could pull in material on the upstroke and then expel material on the down stroke through a hose into a bucket or even directly into a sluice with the crash box adapter. That gets tiring fast :help:

With the vac, the motor does all the work and all you have to do is run the nozzle over the crevices or around boulders etc. Works either wet or dry :icon_thumleft:

The hand dredges are inexpensive but the vac is worth every dollar due to the amount of material you can gather faster, coupled with the ease of use, along with having more suction power.

The motorized vac should be legal due to the fact that there is no discharge back into the water source.
Problem with the vac and working in water is that the bucket fills with water quickly and has to be poured off often. (mine has 10 gallon capacity)

GG~
 

Are you guys talking about a gravity dredge? I'm not sure what a hand dredge is :icon_scratch: I know what a vac is... curious. NVRADAR
 

Like this.
 

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Cool. So how well does it work? What size tubing did you use? Do you make them to sell?
 

Homefires.... awesome information :notworthy: Thanks!!


Rebel & Goodguy Thanks for showing me your setups I never seen them before. I am sure they would be just the ticket for cracks and crevices once the overburden was moved. COOL! NVRADAR
 

Re: G.G.?

Do you have a suggestion for what i can use for a seal in a 2" bodied one? I made one today but what i thought was going to work for a seal don't. I was thinking maybe a couple flat washers just smaller than the inside diameter with a piece of leather sandwiched in between? What would you suggest?
 

Re: G.G.?

Rebel73153 said:
Do you have a suggestion for what i can use for a seal in a 2" bodied one? I made one today but what i thought was going to work for a seal don't. I was thinking maybe a couple flat washers just smaller than the inside diameter with a piece of leather sandwiched in between? What would you suggest?
Click to expand...

Might try this thread and get some ideas: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,336048.0.html

Here is what I used on my 2" ....Ran a length of threaded rod through the handle to a 2" test plug from Home Depot.
You adjust the seal by tightening or loosening the nut.
pumpseal.jpg
 

Thanks for the quick reply and the link. I looked for one of those test plugs a Lowes today but didn't see them. Will have to look again. Thanks.
 

OK. I went back to Lowes and found a 2" Plumbers test plug and also picked up a 3/4" bushing to fit my pull rod, and a washer that fit inside it and let me run a 3" long 5/16" stainless bolt through it and the plumbers plug and put the wing nut on so i could expand it. Guess what? It works. :icon_salut: Thanks guys.
 

Rebel73153 said:
OK. I went back to Lowes and found a 2" Plumbers test plug and also picked up a 3/4" bushing to fit my pull rod, and a washer that fit inside it and let me run a 3" long 5/16" stainless bolt through it and the plumbers plug and put the wing nut on so i could expand it. Guess what? It works. :icon_salut: Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention that you have to modify the large red plastic side of the test plug to match the smaller side so the whole thing fits inside the tube.

GG~
 

Rebel73153 said:
Yep, i did that. I ground it down to fit. Works fine now. Thanks again.
Click to expand...


NOTE!
I just redid my seal...... the rubber had way to much friction and was killing my arm.
Used two 3" discs of leather between reversed plastic washers that came with the plumbers seal.
Much much less friction than the rubber seal and has better suction!
 

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Looks good. I had thought about using leather. May give it a try later if the rubber don't work out.
 

Rebel73153 said:
Looks good. I had thought about using leather. May give it a try later if the rubber don't work out.
Click to expand...

The rubber works..... just not as smooothly as the leather. :icon_sunny:
 

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