Underwater Vacuum

[Indian Steve]

Howdy All, I have a couple of sites that I hunt that have a rock bottom that is what I call shelf rock that is standing with cracks between the layers facing up.{confused yet} It is hell to get targets out of the cracks even with my Stealth 920. You have to wedge the scoop in a crack behind the target and kick the scoop through the rock {not easy} and hope that you can break through. Pinpointing the target isn't hard. Recovery will wear you out and a lot of the targets are sinkers or other junk that sound too good to leave behind. Last year I had a target that it tried to scoop at least 20 times, kicking through rock. Almost gave up but finally a 14 kt ring popped out. I am thinking of some kind of portable/ backpack type of vacuum to suck the targets out of the cracks. Do ya'll have any ideas of something that would work and still be portable? Thanks in advance. steve

 

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[TooManyHobbies]

Would probably need some kind of sluice, like they use on the gold hunting shows. I have a boulder filled fresh water pond that I can find plenty of targets, but can't get them. The scoop won't work and once the bottom is disturbed, it's zero % visability, so a snorkel won't work either.

 

[islamoradamark]

how bout a battery operated little shop vac mounted in a floating sifter i work construction lots of battery operated tools

 

[flgliderpilot]

Howdy All, I have a couple of sites that I hunt that have a rock bottom that is what I call shelf rock that is standing with cracks between the layers facing up.{confused yet} It is hell to get targets out of the cracks even with my Stealth 920. You have to wedge the scoop in a crack behind the target and kick the scoop through the rock {not easy} and hope that you can break through. Pinpointing the target isn't hard. Recovery will wear you out and a lot of the targets are sinkers or other junk that sound too good to leave behind. Last year I had a target that it tried to scoop at least 20 times, kicking through rock. Almost gave up but finally a 14 kt ring popped out. I am thinking of some kind of portable/ backpack type of vacuum to suck the targets out of the cracks. Do ya'll have any ideas of something that would work and still be portable? Thanks in advance. steve

Just exhausting air from a scuba tank up through a pvc pipe will create suction as the bubbles move the water up through the pipe.

How strong I don't know, I've never done it only seen it done.

 

[bigscoop]

Basically you're talking about a dredge.

 

[OBN]

I think you maybe best just snorkeling and using a pick.

 

[flgliderpilot]

I think you maybe best just snorkeling and using a pick.

Agree +1

 

[Rodbuster209]

A hookah system would be the best.

 

[releventchair]

Automotive ,claw pick up tool if you can see target ,maybe.

 

[CASPER-2]

Would probably need some kind of sluice, like they use on the gold hunting shows. I have a boulder filled fresh water pond that I can find plenty of targets, but can't get them. The scoop won't work and once the bottom is disturbed, it's zero % visability, so a snorkel won't work either.

SO YOUR PROB IS ROCKS ARE COVERED WITH A SILT ?
if its near by spot - I would get a water scooter seen them from 50 bucks on up over $1000
pick a spot and drop down with mask and blow the silt away then hunt - do a section at a time

 

[CASPER-2]

Ive hunted rocky spots and use an old heavy duty combat knife to get into crevices
I snorkel and drop down - will fan as much as I can many targets get wedged and scooping is not an option

 

[TooManyHobbies]

SO YOUR PROB IS ROCKS ARE COVERED WITH A SILT ?
if its near by spot - I would get a water scooter seen them from 50 bucks on up over $1000
pick a spot and drop down with mask and blow the silt away then hunt - do a section at a time

Yeah, everything is covered in silt and some bottom weeds. But there is no current at all, so once the bottom is disturbed, the cloud just stays there. After a while I do see bare spots when I work my way back, like a fish bed. I'll look up a water scooter.

 

[bklein]

I've often wondered about basically a portable electric dredge thing for around rocks or those holes you keep digging and the waves fill in faster than you can get the target... But after trying out some electric pumps for just pumping water I was saddened by their capability.

 

[Octopulse]

I have used one of those mini pinch / wrecking / crow bars......about 12" long. Fully weighted and on my hookah is also needed.
Getting leverage when underwater (and with nothing really to support you) can be a bit frustrating but it's worth the effort.
Tony

 

[boogeyman]

Old old school rig would work excellent for your application. I made a dredge, just because there weren't 20 or 30 companies making them. Decided it'd be a cool idea to be able to slide the sluice box off and slide a screen basket on. the basket was 4' long and shaped like half of a length of pipe or a round trough. That was back in the early 70s. The half round basket was an accidental design plus all the stuff that wouldn't drop through would lay in the bottom and you could run till the basket was full to the top or the dredge sank, which ever came first. For a suction nozzle you might want to make a tip like a shop vac nozzle from PVC with one end squished to an oblong shape to fit cracks better. If that's a bit much for your shop, you could always use one of the sucker guns the gold panners use. There's plans for them all over if you google them. Either way simple to make.

 

[The Urban Prospector]

You could try one of these....