Angus MacKirk Boss and Recon modification adding V matting

[ezrider2]

I have an AM Boss and a Recon I have been toying with the idea of adding some V matting at the beginning of the sluice. It catches gold without it really really well, but you have to do a clean out to see if there is any color. I have a few friends that have done it with there Le traps but wanted to see if anyone has done it with there AM sluice.
Any thoughts would be great!

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Duckwalk (on tnet) has a Mackirk with low V matting at the top and it works fine. It does allow him to see the gold as he digs.

 

[Echoplex]

I can't comment on those particular models, but on my AM Explorer and Dry Gulch, I could not detect any benefit of using V matting other than the gold being slightly more visible to the naked eye. In fact, I felt like the V matting was interfering with the turbulence of the first riffle of my Dry Gulch, as it created too many air bubbles in the riffle. The Explorer is big enough that the gold will hang out on the drop area long enough to know if you are on it, then it will slowly work its way and drop under the black sand in the first riffle. According to Angus, the MacKirks are tuned to perform optimally without the matting and he will tell you it's a waste of money. I understand the need to test it out, however. The miner in me had to know for certain and it is nice to be able to easily see the gold, but I just won't be using it again. A small strip of the matting is less than 10 bucks shipped on eBay, so I would say just try it if you have to know for certain.

Edit: forgot to say that I was using the standard (low) V matting, not the deep V matting. I think the deep stuff would definitely mess with your riffle turbulence...

Second edit: The other thing I didn't like was that the V matting was more difficult to clean the gold. It really holds it! Without the matting, you just dump your sluice in the bucket and rinse. With the matting on, I had to pull the v matting out and rinse it at an angle. No big deal really, but it was an extra step in the process.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Echoplex has good points. I don't have matting in my AM Expedition and it's true that you see the gold on the skid plate and sometimes can watch it migrate along and down into the first riffle. Fun stuff.

I did notice it was a challenge to clean out the matting on Ducky's AM. Took twice as long as cleaning the whole rest of the sluice.

Edit: cleaning out an AM sluice takes less than a minute so while cleaning out the v matting takes longer, it's nothing like cleaning carpet or miners moss. ijs

 

[ezrider2]

I can't comment on those particular models, but on my AM Explorer and Dry Gulch, I could not detect any benefit of using V matting other than the gold being slightly more visible to the naked eye. In fact, I felt like the V matting was interfering with the turbulence of the first riffle of my Dry Gulch, as it created too many air bubbles in the riffle. The Explorer is big enough that the gold will hang out on the drop area long enough to know if you are on it, then it will slowly work its way and drop under the black sand in the first riffle. According to Angus, the MacKirks are tuned to perform optimally without the matting and he will tell you it's a waste of money. I understand the need to test it out, however. The miner in me had to know for certain and it is nice to be able to easily see the gold, but I just won't be using it again. A small strip of the matting is less than 10 bucks shipped on eBay, so I would say just try it if you have to know for certain.

Edit: forgot to say that I was using the standard (low) V matting, not the deep V matting. I think the deep stuff would definitely mess with your riffle turbulence...

Second edit: The other thing I didn't like was that the V matting was more difficult to clean the gold. It really holds it! Without the matting, you just dump your sluice in the bucket and rinse. With the matting on, I had to pull the v matting out and rinse it at an angle. No big deal really, but it was an extra step in the process.

Thanks Echoplex. I have another sluice with v matting and you are right it is a pain to clean out. Thanks for your input!