Beach Hunting - Wet Sand

[Islandjoe57]

Live here on Ohau (Hawaii) and we had high winds and alot of rain today. After everything settled down and it stopped raining I decided to get some time in and see what I could find.

I hunted the beaches before here using my E-Trac and had outstanding find's at depths up tp 13" measured with a ruler. Found a total of 4 rings, Bracelet, wheaties, Matchbox cars , 5 - 50 cents , dimes, nickels, pennies, werid stuff, and my share of tabs and tops. Mostly Dry Sand but every once in a while I dip at the water edge. I have paid for my detector so far and I had it since the 30th of Dec. No problems so far until the day.

Here's the scoop" Turned it on, Went Minelab Modes, Selected Beach, Said yes, Held it to the ground and Balanced it, Push Detect and off I go.

Started out finding a target of 12- 08, moved away from target and moved back again and had a reading of f 6 - 5, Moved away again from target and moved back over again and had of f reading of 18. Moved away from target and rebalance tried again and same thing. Dug target and found nothing. Recheck target and unit didn't detect anything. On many occasions this happened. Another example was f reading was 11 then rechecked had a 7 for F reading and rechecked had a 14 for a F reading.

Tried turning it off and restarting, rebalanced many times and so far. No the detector didn't get wet, First time the whole beach was wet. Hope enough infromation is provided for some one who may have some advice. I'm thinking it's the salt water wet beach.

I did have trouble with the sens in both auto and manual trying to keep them balance.

Like to hear some suggestions.


BOB

 

[TheMarshall]

Hi Joe....Did you take out a few spades of sand to investigate that spot?

Sometimes mineralisation is visible in the change of sand colour.

When I experience such 'erratics' it is usually too high a sens for that wetter areas, or deeper mineral sand patches.

Thanks for the post..........TheMarshall

[attachment 115626 beachetrac.jpg]

 

[tmanfromtexas]

For the beach hunters I have an additional question. Do you ever wade into the surf with the procoil? If so how deep do you go, ankle, knee?

 

[Andy Sabisch]

I would put this out as a word of caution when thinking about wading with any of the FBS detectors with the cord inside the shaft.

As soon as the coil gets into the water, you also get water into the shaft. If you lift the detector to walk back to the car, water can easily drain back up the inside of the shaft and get to the connector / housing electronics. I did that in working on the original Explorer years ago in a fresh water stream in Georgia and luckily the machine dried out with no ill effects. Salt water will kill the detector and it will more than likely NOT be covered under warranty.

The FBS detectors are great machines and handle wet salt sand with ease but using one for a wader . . . . . for me, I'd look at something else.

Just one perspective based on personal experience

Andy Sabisch

 

[tmanfromtexas]

Thanks Andy. Makes good sense. I had an F75 and went wading on a fresh water beach on Lake Michigan and after about a month it went out and had to be replaced. I have been very leary of getting the coil wet on my etrac. TMAN...

 

[Islandjoe57]

First of all I take the time out to thank everybody that has answered so far and those that continue to respond.

1) The Marshal: Yes the sand changes colors. I have been operataing in Auto not Manual. Reread Andy's book will try manual. Will respond with my findings after trying different sides of the islands as to the results I get. Each side of the island has different colors of sand if you look closely. Our island has all types of volcanic rocks, shells, soil, and sand.

2) tmanfromtexas: Yes I do wade in the water but only knee deep. Good results so far (maybe) Thats were I found one of my 14kt rings w diamonds and some coins. But no more. It may be at the cost of my E-TRAC. I'll let my Excal handle the water for now on.

3) Andy: First of all I would like to say your book is full of excellent information and knowledge. For all those who were part of this book I admire your efforts and "can do attidude" that went into this book published.

4) Here is what I have done today.

I have done a complete disassemble of my unit in the reverse order that I assembled it per manual.

5) Results:

There was droplets of water in the tube. I was the tudes out with warm soapy water. Used pieces of towel and coat hanger to dry them out. Use small
amount of silcone grease on the shaft to help prevent what ever salt water corrion that I could.

I took a wash cloth with warm and soapy water (not drippy) and wipped down the cord.

I remove the coil cover and could not belive how much wet sand came out. I actuall measured over a tea spoon worth.

I wash my coil and coil cover in warm soapy water and hand dryed.

I check the connectors for sing of mostier but from none. Used dry Q-tips on them any way to remove any possible salt residue.

No signs of mositure in the vents.

Will reassemble and let everyone know the results.

BOB

 

[Jason in TN]

First I get rid of my coil cover when beach hunting all the trapped sand and salt in there will case false signals.

Next I was beach hunting for about three days a couple weeks back and my E trac started to false like crazy did this about three times.
Here is what i found. I was running in auto +3 for the sensitivity and it would be fine for a while then start to get noisy. I looked to see the
sensitivity had worked up to 28 and that was the cause of my problem. Went down to minus 3 and it still would get noisy at times. Tried
manual and could get it to work but I like the auto as I like it to be able to change as the ground changes. Here is what I did to get it to work.
Set it on auto no = or - When it would get a little noisy i would put the coil flat on the beach cut the detector off and then back on it would reset
the sensitivity much lower and would work great in auto. If it got noisy again I did the same thing maybe had to do this 5 times on a three day hunt.
Hope this helps.

Jason

PS Any one who hunts the beach a lot will tell you coil covers just do not work there. I would get rid of it on the beach. Yes you will scratch the bottom of your coil but you will also keep your sanity.

 

[Islandjoe57]

Put everythiing back togather without the coil cover. Went to the beach again and stayed out of the water. Continued making finds and now everything works like it should. Lesson learned: Keep the coil dry!


Bob

 

[Neil]

Thanks Andy. Makes good sense. I had an F75 and went wading on a fresh water beach on Lake Michigan and after about a month it went out and had to be replaced. I have been very leary of getting the coil wet on my etrac. TMAN...

TMan its not the coil you have to worry about its that the shaft can funnel water right up to the electronics in the control housing. The coil is poured epoxy. Ive had mine wet many times when wet sand hunting at the ocean but like the post below says, you want to remove the coil cover as sand and water gets in that and can cause falsing. If I remember right the F75 coil is pressed together not poured like the pro coil so that could explain your water problem with it.

HH
Neil

 

[Jason in TN]

Do not think it was the coil being wet just all the sand and salt in the coil cover that cased your problem. keeping it dry is not a bad idea but is is water proof.
Good luck glad you got it to work.

 

[GraveDiggerMax-VaBch-Va]

n/t

 

[Gary in Daytona]

n/t

 

[Gary in Daytona]

...and prompts me to take it off and clean it. I usually don't use one on the beach, but this being a new detector, I just haven't got used to the idea of scuffing up my coil yet.