Best dredge for a beginner

[Bigmanco]

My original plan was to go right into dredging. After talking to some of you imma start with the basics and go from there but i have a dilemma. Tomorrow i go in for a contrast mri on my hip due to an accident. Im sure this will have an affect on working the shallow streams and banks from pain but ill work through that. In dealing with the insurance on my settlement i was basically told when the mri shows the damage their give me what im asking for. My delimma is im sure i can get good panning and such before dredging season. Im concerened if i wait i will not have the funds to get the setup so my plan or well im thinking go ahead and pick up a dredge now figure being still winter i can get a good deal. Im alittle unsure what setup is best what i want for my area and if i should go with a highbanker dredge combo or just a dredge. What kind of matting should i look for what brand i should go with. Here is what i feel like i need or want plus my questions

1 4" dredge as to fit with Colorado law dont see a reason to go smaller
2 a portable module im guessing some places i might have a hike to get to

3 hooka(airsupply) not a must but would like ur advice here. I have all my own scub gear so the air supply would just be added cost. Though i can ses the benefit as i am not lugging tanks around and a hooka setup would work for me when i dive shallow spots when not diving
4 cost on setup and funning either intergrated air supply or having an independent hooka setup. I can see having a stand alone hooka setup so i can use it for diving when not mininf but again i have tanks though

Mingong questions
1 best dredge for say 2500 to 5000 bucks
2 should i go dredge only or dredge/high banker combi
3 air source intergrated not integrated or just use my dive gear

My thought is have the dredge only setup unless im wrong there. Then setup a clean up sluice at home to do a final clean up. If i find a bank area i wonna mine i can allows collect buckets to run at home on the sluice and if its rich enough buy a high banker


What are ur thoughts

Im hoping if i buy the setup from a local shop i can get kevin to go in with me and show me how to run it if i buy him lunch supply the fuel and give alot of thanks to him

 

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[littlenugget1]

That all depends on the type of ground/water to mine on? but if you are a just starting out a 4'' dredge would do the job really well. if you could go a litte bigger and neck it down that would be fine to. just do the research on the dredge that has what you want not just because someone says it is the best.

take all the informantion and go through the pros and the cons.

these guys and gals on here have a lot of good info.

Hope this helps. good luck with the hip and the settlement.

 

[Bigmanco]

Well my understanding is the public areas open to dredging here in north west co has a limit of 4inchs but i was told u can go with a 6 inch hose necked down to a 4 inch nozzle i can see going that way then when i go where i can use a 6 inch noozle switching the 4 nozzle to a 6 inch

 

[omnicron]

Some dredges are more user friendly then others. Keene with their 3 stage is not as beginner friendly as say a Proline. With that said, buy what your money, desire dictates. No matter what you buy your going to have a learning curve. Just have to ask your self, how much can you take in at one time. With any dredge, or sluice for that matter, if you over feed it you'll blow gold out the end. If you let it run pumping just water, it'll clean your riffles of gold. So you take just basic stuff you have to learn then add in a 3 stage, now you have to know when to open or close the underflow slide. Or when you need to adjust the angle of the sluice. there's a learning curve for everything. When you hookah diving and you get into trouble, are you going to panic 10' under water because your tether is tangled up cutting off your O2 or can you remain calm and get through the issue. It's your only life!

When your dredging, you have to know what tailings look like. Don't want to spend days or weeks digging a hole through 10' of material to get to the pay layer only to get no gold because you were in someone's tailing pile from months or years ago.

Big, I'm going to be moving to CO the end of this year, screw nozzle sizes! I'm building a 6" dredge and fully plan on using it in CO, know how? I'll put a restrictor ring on the end making it legal. You could have a 10" suction hose, but as long as you have a 4" restrictor on, your legal. The other part to the equation in Co is no more then a 8hp engine, so you have to choose wisely. You also say your injured, you need to figure in size and weight of your dredge. If you have to pack it in, figure if your going to be able to. If its just a day trip, you spend several hours packing, setting up, packing out so you only get a few hours of dredging in.

Also you will need to be able to move boulders out of your hole so you do need to be some what able to move 100+ pound boulders or have someone with you to do the grunt work, If you do that then you'll need some kind of split with then, so now you have to take the $100 in gold you found for the day and split...there's more to this then just sucking up gravel. What you see on TV make it look oh so simple. I can go on and on, but my whole point is, nobody over this forum knows what your physical abilities are nor your mental capacities. You know your self better so base what size you buy based on your physical abilities. With that said, if your a fast learner, you should be able to learn how to pan in a matter of minutes and then its just learning the finer points. Get you a sluice and run it for a few weeks, learn the ins and out of that, then you will have a better understanding of how a sluice works, what to look for then start learning dredging.

Besides a dredge, you will need hookah gear, wetsuits, maybe a heater for your wetsuit its hard to just buy one cause only a few places sell them and they don't have websites, you need clean up gear, other misc, stuff so plan on spending 7000 or more on all new gear including the dredge (4"). I have heard of stories of people going broke dredging before they even found gold.

Let it be known, I'm not trying to scare you away, on the contrary, I'm trying to open your eyes as to what your getting into, It's expensive, requires lots of physical labor and well dangerous.
I recommend a few books:
Gold dredgers handbook
Advanced dredging techniques 1 and 2
Very good information for the beginner and pro alike.

 

[Hoser John]

Never ever no way Jose run a dredge without air and a blaster nozzle as jus' a piddln' and a didln' and wasting time. Buy used but not abused and good to go. .GPAA did NOT fill out required paperwork to dredge many MANY claims last year in colorado so don't plan nuttn' till checked. Simply go to GoldDredger.com a colorado based forum that Russau and many others frequent as Leonard-owner-has filled out paperwork and all the latest rotten facts about the situation obtainable easily there. Just might see ya there as buds a calln'--- John

 

[G1sammons]

I'd tell ya to go with the keene 3stage it's not that difficult to learn .. The frames on this dredge is a little flimsy I just weld a 1" square tube across the top from one hand rail to the other and it plenty sturdy .. But take johns advise get ya a blaster nozzle and a air system t-80 only ! Don't get that kac-1 terd it's junk ..

Also you find you can work all day under water as you have no weight on ya ... Floating decompress you spine legs hips all of it ..make ya feel young again .
Plus those 6" are heavy and work ya a lot more than a 4"
Good luck

 

[aarthrj3811]

Get one with air.......Even in shallow water you will like it...Even with a 4 inch the trip in will be hard...the engine is the hardest part...Don’t let anyone talk you into anything smaller than 4 inches...In California I had a 12 inch...As the laws changed I just kept modifying the nozzle...A 6 inch is not much heavier than a four...Neck down the nozzle and you will have fewer jams in the hose and jet.. Heck... If you find something good on the bank you can put in 5 gallon buckets and dump in the river and then run it through the dredge...Art

 

[Greybear]

I used to have a 3 inch Keene dredge and loved it. I had to sell it because of a divorce but plan on getting another. If you plan on going to Wyoming the largest they allow is the 3 inch. I will say that it is not a one man unit. First it's heavy unless you intend to break it down every time you want to move it. You also need someone to tend the dredge to make sure the run off tailings from the sluice do not build up to where they are backfilling the sluice box. I used mine mostly up on Douglas creek West of Laramie. Did real good there. BTW where are you in Colorado? I am in Fort Collins.

The other option, one that I am considering, is to go with the high banker/dredge combo with hooka. This way I have a dual purpose unit, it is a lot lighter and I can still get the 3 inch capacity. The only thing I am concerned about is the length of the sluice box on the high banker. It is not as long as the dredge. Not sure if that is an issue or not.

 

[Bigmanco]

Thanks guys i had along day today. Left granby at 5 took my mom to the airport went for my mti got a needle stuck in my hip. Got him at 4 pm. Took a nap still wore out. Im going to read theough everyones comments and respond tomorrow. Thanks for all the good wishes while watching the xray for the needle it looked to my lole i had a nice crack right where my hip mets my leg bone on the joint. Im no doctor but what it looks like to me the doctor doing the injections took some images and said he would send them to my doctor. Yes if its the case the more cash i get but id rather if not be messed up sucks im 28 a big guy and a messed up hip was not in my plans

 

[rodoconnor]

BMC Don't push yourself. Give the body a chance to heal itself. In the meantime you can do alot of research [ like you seem to be doing re dredges] . GL

 

[G1sammons]

BMC Don't push yourself. Give the body a chance to heal itself. In the meantime you can do alot of research [ like you seem to be doing re dredges] . GL

right on there plus it will give him the time to find a good deal on a good used dredge and save lots of dollars ... The world is full. Of guys who buy then and realize its work and put then on the garage and sell them almost new for less than half the price of the cost of a new one . Plus usally you get the clean up stuff and dive equipment free in the package

 

[Bigmanco]

Thats what im hopin for. Being checking craigslist the one i like for some reason is listed here but locates in ohio

 

[littlenugget1]

hey Big there is a bunch here in idaho on the Boise craigslist

 

[russau]

BMC before you buy anything, get together with someone to show you how to dredge! dredge with this person untill you know what your doing and save lots of time/money!most streams in Colorado can handel a 4 inch and anything bigger is to much for most streams!

 

[Bigmanco]

Greybear we are not far from one of another. Im in granby bout 30 south of rocky mtn nat park and grand lake

I used to have a 3 inch Keene dredge and loved it. I had to sell it because of a divorce but plan on getting another. If you plan on going to Wyoming the largest they allow is the 3 inch. I will say that it is not a one man unit. First it's heavy unless you intend to break it down every time you want to move it. You also need someone to tend the dredge to make sure the run off tailings from the sluice do not build up to where they are backfilling the sluice box. I used mine mostly up on Douglas creek West of Laramie. Did real good there. BTW where are you in Colorado? I am in Fort Collins.

The other option, one that I am considering, is to go with the high banker/dredge combo with hooka. This way I have a dual purpose unit, it is a lot lighter and I can still get the 3 inch capacity. The only thing I am concerned about is the length of the sluice box on the high banker. It is not as long as the dredge. Not sure if that is an issue or not.

 

[calnatv]

A four inch , air, blaster. wet suit, goggles, weight belt, regulator and rock winch. Recovery equipment is another animal