I just got back from a two week vacation there and hit the beaches every day averaging six hours per day. I thought I knew my MXT when I went there but I know it a whole bunch better now. This is my first metal detector and I just got it this spring.
First of all, the regular beach hunters were asking me why I would want to use an MXT on a beach. Well, when that is all you have, that is what you use. I had no problems at all with wet salt sand. If fact, that became my preferred location to search. I was picking up dimes at 6 -7 inches in wet or dry and quarters about 10 - 12 inches but the dry sand is just harder to walk on.
Caution - On a typical day, look down the beach and observe the haze over the beach. Keep in mind that the haze is mostly airborne salt water droplets. If you use glasses look at the lens when you come back from a day on the beach. This same salt spray gets on everything. Even your beloved MXT. Wipe it down every evening with a damp cloth. I did not bring one but when I got home I took a spray bottle and misted the control housing then wiped it off to get up under the knobs where I could not get with a cloth. I turned the control box upside down (knobs down) then sprayed up and let it drip. Don't forget the earphones too.
If you go into the surf (careful there) disassemble the lower rods and wipe them down each evening. If you don't, an accumulation of beach sand in the joint and coupling may cause it to lock up. If so, it can be loosened up but is a real pain and a real possibility of damaging the lower carbon fiber rod. White's recommends that you do not use any lubrication on these joints.
COVERAGE
If I felt that a particular stretch of beach looked promising or if I had some good hits I would grid cover it. Starting right after high tide I would start in the wet sand at the dry sand/wet sand line and walk parallel to the beach. Then I would turn around, move over about 2 - 3 feet and come back the other way overlapping a portion of my previous path. I could do about 150 yard stretch of beach in 4 - 6 hours.
MODE
I used the RELIC mode, DISC at zero and the trigger forward. This produces one sound for iron and another sound for all nonferrous metals.
I had previously only used the C/J mode but have heard so much about increased sensitivity in the RELIC mode I was determined to use it on this trip. I only reverted back to the C/J mode the first day or two to correlate my new RELIC readings with the familiar C/J readings.
I found one area about 100' square that was loaded with change. Sometimes even on the surface. I picked up a total of about $10, all in small change. Nothing larger than a quarter and no jewelry. I got to the point where I was too pooped to bother digging the zinc pennies but dug everything else. Naturally this was on my last day there.
I found this area late in the day. It was very trashy and I had my standard coil. Covered a small portion before dark and picked up about $2.50. Went back the next day with my mini shooter and found that most of the trash was other coins. Picked up about the same amount from this area I had already covered with the standard coil. Covered the whole area with the small mini shooter. Lots of swinging but very fruitful
TUNING
I would run the gain as high as possible and still keep spurious noise to an acceptable level and where the auto ground balance would still work. If I could get it to balance by bobbing the coil 10 - 15 times I considered it about right. If it took more than 15 times or would not balance at all I would back off a tiny bit and try again until the GB would take control as evidenced by the sudden drop in noise.
Then I would adjust the Threshold.
Both the wet and dry sand measured about 6 on my machine. This is the lowest value I have ever seen. Sometimes I would lock the GB when I encountered a weak signal but often forgot it and wondered why it was acting up when I hit a salt pocket or some other spot that required rebalancing.
By the way, you will get a strange "boing" sound once in a while. I was told that this is usually a concentration of salts and was not really any metallic object. You'll see what I mean.
Now that I have confidence and experience in the RELIC mode and have discovered how to tune it for max. sensitivity I expect I will use the RELIC mode as my preferred search mode.
All in all, I gathered almost $30 in change, some minor jewelry, SS leaders and lead sinkers, loads and loads of pull tabs and had a good time.
I was very impressed with the amount of coins I found with black encrustation and even attached sea shells on them. Either it is a very aggressive environment or I was finding some of the older coins although I never did find any silver coins.
I felt good in that after I had covered an area, other detectorists that I talked to were complaining abut how poor the area was for getting anything. <img src="/metal/html/grin.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":grin"> They did find stuff though. Just enough to keep me humble.
Since this was my very first time on an ocean beach I was surprised by the amount of sand that was moved by the tides and waves every day. New stuff just kept coming up.
If you have a larger coil, bring it. There is an awfull lot of beach and a large coil would make it go faster. Since I do not have one I cannot comment on deep versus small. Small wire ear rings may not show with a large coil. <img src="/metal/html/confused.gif" border=0 width=15 height=22 alt=":?">
I better quit. The more I write the more I'm ready to pack up and join you down there for another week or two. I think this was one of the best vacations we have ever had. Very relaxing. Doing beaches can really spoil you. Big scoop, all holes are easy to fill, no dead grass or ugly spots to worry about.
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions on anyhthing I may have missed or any point I was not clear about.
