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6 inch 18.75 coil skid plate

Neilo

New member
Hi have recently purchased a 6inch 18.75 klz coil for my exterra 70. the coil performs well is light weight but has one big draw back. It is not fitted with a skid plate and there is not one available for it.Talking to a minelab agent he told me he has had complaints from other people about this and he has contacted Minelab personally about it and at this stage there is no immediate plans to make them. The problem is these coils are very frail in construction and without a skid plate the bottom will soon wear through. Is this Minelabs latest idea flimsy disposable coils which will obviously not last very long. Not good Neilo
 
If you are concerned that you are going to wear through the bottom of the coil, then I have read of what appears to be a great solution on the Beach & Water forum. Firstly many of us dislike coil covers with quite an intensity because of the constant risk of getting magnetic/salty + sand/soil in between the coil & cover. The X-Terra ones fit very loosely so they are very prone to this, yes they come off easy, but they fill with sand easy also. The only solution if you're going to use one is to glue/seal them on. On the other hand you have some covers like on Fishers that are so tight that you have to beat them off with a piece of soft wood, but they still get sand down in between them.

The saltwater beach hunters have been coating the bottom of their coils with epoxy for some time now as many of them dislike coil covers and don't care for the added weight. That has been a pretty good solution with re-application from time to time as the epoxy wears down. I however recently saw a post that some are using spray cans of pickup truck bed liner to coat the bottom of their coils. The only prep work is to lightly scuff the bottom of the coil with sandpaper and wipe clean. Then two coats are sprayed on following the recommendations on the can. To me this seems like the best solution I've seen so far; no sand/soil issues, lightweight, low cost, very little prep work or cleanup, and can be re-applied. I'm actually pretty excited to try this, and will as soon as the outside ambient temperature gets back up to where spray cans will work again.:lol:

And yes the first thing I did yesterday when I took the 10.5 DD HF out of it's package, was to take that danged coil cover off, makes a right nice Frisbee!:throw:

HH
BarnacleBill
 
I wonder if a White's 5.3 cover would fit it or if it's a little bigger could be sealed with silicone? Ron
 
I found a plastic paint can lid that fit like it was made for my 6" coil. You can also cut a flat piece of ABS plastic 6" in dia. and silicone glue it to the coil.
 
I can't believe they didn't make a cover for the 6" coil! Is there a chance they thought it would be best without one so that water-based sediments don't get between the coil and the skid plate? Is the coil THICKER on the bottom in this case? Makes no sense to me.

I bought my X-Terra with the elliptical 5x10" HFDD and the first thing I did was take a roll of black duct tape and seal the cover in place. Users warned me of the consequence of getting magnetic or iron sand in there plus the concern that the coil would take some harsh hits which might result in the skid plate coming off altogether in the field. Admittedly, every time I take my eyes off the coil, even for a second, I tend to hit a rock.

You can see the tape on the rim of my coil here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/90125773/original.jpg

If there's no skid plate available for the 6", someone could generate a good little business making third-party coil covers. Whilst I can see Minelab wanting to cut the occasional corner, I find this oversight to be a little annoying. To clarify the consequence, I was prepared to drive down to the local Minelab dealer this morning to buy this coil (after seeing the recent video posted here in this forum) but am prepared to hold out now since I'd easily ruin the 6" coil without a skid plate. One less sale for Minelab. Wonder if anyone else will hold off? I suppose they believe a serious prospector wanting this coil can afford an easy replacement if they're successful?
 
Hi Nero Design,

I have been speaking to Ian Aiken who is the marketing manager here in oz at Minelab in Adelaide and he is tracing it down to Ireland to Desi Dunne where they are made to see why they dont have a cover. We might get some covers and so they should have them. I generally use black insulation tape around my coil but you still have to take the cover off every so often its amazing how it still gets in the cover even with the tape around the coil.

Regards Pinpointa Way Down Under In Oz.
 
Another alternative .... a Tesoro 5.75 coil cover fits about 1/16" big surely with some tape or something we can make them work .
 
these coils are bloody tough.........I have smashed my little 6 incher to bits (Now that sounds suss) and it still looks new and like a few punters here have said, resin does wonders if thats your choice of protection. If you take a close look at the coil you will see that it is of good make and has been put together well. I don't see what all the fuss is about, with or without a skid plate its definitely a coil worth purchasing.
Cheers!
 
I've been looking for something to replace the coil covers. If this works, sound like to will be the thing to do.
 
I had a chance to mess around with it , I wrapped 3 full windings of black electrical tape around the edge of my new 6" 18.75 coil , I then put the Tesoro 5.75 coil cover for my Umax on it and it is on super tight ( you may want to try 2 windings first ) . Works for me .
H H ,
George
 
I don't think you could ever come close to wearing through the coil bottom unless you hunt while dragging the coil on the road behind your car. None of the Nautilus coils have a cover, and I've used one for almost 20 years and I see no apparent wear, just a few scratches.
 
I think you should give MINELAB credit here, have you ever seen them put out a shonky product, In my experience, it has always been top quality, and if they did have a fault , they fixed it promptly I have seen some heavily used or abused coils and the plastics they use in the coils and skid plates seem to last forever, I don't think you blokes are going to wear them out, do you know anyone that has? HH
 
It depends on where you are using them I have done alot of detecting on old gold feilds going over mullock heaps with the coil scrubbing the surface to gain the maximum depth on tiny gold.I used a six inch minelab coil on a xt18000. I found alot of gold but also scrubbed through a lot of skid plates. Remember the smaller the coil the quicker the skid plates wear out because of the small surface area. This detector has the prospectors mode and should have a skid plate which will allow you to pick up the tiny gold by scrubbing the surface if you wish.Also the skid plate does give side protection to the coil should you accidentally swing into a Rock.
goodstuff2.jpg
 
I just went down to my local Minelab dealer and asked him what he thought about the lack of a skid plate.... and he laughed and pulled one off the shelf and even removed it from the clear plastic to show me that there is indeed a skid plate on this coil! It has been either siliconed or epoxied into place at Minelab and is not designed to come off.
 
Your dealer is wrong it does look like it is sealed on but that is the bottom moulding of the coil not the skid plate, I have checked with the company itself. Even if it was the skid plate it would not be glued and sealed in place, it would be impossible to replace it.
 
The thread behind this one was "bumped up " for easy access .As I stated in the other one perhaps someone from Minelab can answer the coil question .I used my new coil yesterday with the cover I added and was very pleased with it's performance on my XT-50.
I dug 2 nice pieces of jewelry , 1 wheat and $5.72 in an extremely trashy area the 6" 18.75 DD coil ,is great wether it comes with a coil cover or not .Pictured are the two pieces of jewelry .
H H ,
George
 
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