Best/Lightest Method To Protect Coil Without Cover?

[Critterhunter]

I'm mainly a land hunter and am looking to drop the weight on some of my Sovereign GT coils. I found the 10" Tornado coil cover weighs 2.5 ounces or so and the 15x12 cover weighs 3.6oz. I did the math and my 15x12 will weigh .6oz lighter without it's cover than the 10" with cover still on it. I'm building a light weight custom shaft and doing other mods to the machine to drop as much weight as possible. While I don't find the machine or the 10" heavy for most hunts, after about 8 or 9 hours climbing up and down hills in the woods it starts to get heavy. The 15x12 I'm sure I can use with no problem for 2 or 3 hours on grass before I start to feel it but I'm still looking to save as much weight on my custom build as possible in any area possible, so this means the coil covers need to go as well. I don't like hip mounting a machine so the whole idea is to lighten it up as much as possible and make it as comfortable of a machine to use as possible on those long 9 or 10 hour days.

I've done a little searching in this forum because it seems many beach hunters do this to avoid having to take a coil cover off to clean or also to keep the coil from falsing when sand/water gets trapped inside the cover. My primary reason would be weight savings but also the less hassle of having to clean under my covers as well. For this reason I have some very specific questions that will keep me from having to search through a bunch of threads in this forum.

1) Is the spray on bedliner the best way to go? Meaning, least weight and easier to apply than epoxy? I would figure the answer to both would be yes.
2) Are there any special things I need to do to prep the coil so it will stick well?
3) How are you keeping any overspray from getting on the top of the coil?
4) How far up the sides of the coil are you spraying it?
5) Does not using a cover make the coil more prone to cracking should you wack it's side into a rock or something?
6) This is probably the most important one- How much weight is it adding to the coil? If it's close to the weight of my coil covers then I'm not going to do it.
7) Are you finding any change in performance on the machine? While I'm sure there aren't going to be metals in the paint I'm worried there might be high levels of certain minerals which could throw off performance.

Any other details you can also provide would be helpful, such as how many coats and just in general what you do to paint and protect one. Remember my primary goal is least weight. Also, any particular brand that seems to work best? Thanks for all the help in advance.

 

[GraveDiggerMax-VaBch-Va]

i have just started using it on my scoop handles this week..............bought a can of rustoleum #248914.............i have never used on coils, but i will say...................I LIKE IT

since 2004 i have been using the epoxy on all coils...........................marine grade - 2 part ( mixes gray)............................I LIKE IT ALSO
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[woodwizard]

I use coil covers on all my coils - put it on new then seal around all the seams/cracks with liquid electrical tape you won't ever have to clean inbetween the two.most hardware stores,wal marts or home depot carry it -usually in a yellow can-it has a brush applicator inside attached to lid. sealed white coil with tub/sink caulk.never had a problem with either.on the coil on my water machine I dipped it in electramastic roof coating-it dries to a white rubber and makes it easier to see under water.

 

[tvr]

I've heard of a few, but very few coils worn through to failure. I used to use coil covers but have kind of flipped on this topic. I have now gone about 8 to 9 months without a cover on most of my coils and have not seen much wear or scratching at all. I am not putting anything on them as a coating. Planning to continue to go without covers for a while and keep observing the coils for wear.
tvr

 

[midalake]

Loctite 50 minute marine epoxy.............brush on the bottom. your done........

Dave

 

[mynah]

To add to the question, how are you all preparing the bottom of the coil before applying the protective coat? ie, sanding, scuffing, or nothing?

This topic got me curious because I used a protective cover and recently experienced an annoying sound (falsing) do to a piece of metal caught in between the cover and coil. Since then I decided to run without the cover and will probably apply some type of coating.

Mahalo, IKe

 

[Critterhunter]

I'm pretty sure any kind of epoxy is out since that stuff tends to be heavy. I would also think rubberized undercoating or tool dipping material would also have more weight than spray on bed liner? I did a little more digging and also found out through some PMs that others like the spray on bed liner without using anything else. So long as nobody on here tells me I'm making a big mistake doing that for land hunting with a 10" Tornado or 15x12 SEF coil then that's what I'm going to use. Anybody think it's not going to protect the coil enough? I don't mind having to re-apply it months down the road if it starts to show wear. I plan to use red because I think it would look cool and also would show the black color of the coil bottom when it starts to wear off.

 

[Critterhunter]

Anybody using Rustoleum spray on bed liner...Have you had any problems? Mine says "Stops Rust" and I'm pretty sure at least the spray paint of theirs that does that has zinc in it to "kill" the rust. I don't like the idea of spraying one big zinc signal all over my coil if that's true, even if it's effect would be minimal at best. Anybody?

EDIT: Just looked up your model # for the Rustoleum you used and I'm pretty sure it's the exact same can I bought. Any problems? Wonder if I should spray some on some newspaper and then sweep my coil over that to make sure it's not giving off any kind of signal.

 

[grumpyolman]

CH...Why don't you use a Swingy Thingy? I use mine all the time no matter what coil. It's really a bonus with the 15X12. Sort of like a heavy load lifted and suspended by a crane. A person on the ground turns and guides the load, with little effort, to where it needs to go. Same thing with your detector. It's weight hangs from the ST and you use your hand to guide and swing the coil. I've used it from day one as I heard the Minelabs were heavy and not ergonomically well designed. I don't find it bothers me one bit by getting in the way. However, when changing from uphill, to level, to downhill, sometimes a half-inch 'slider' adjustment on the length of the bungee makes a real difference. Jim

 

[Critterhunter]

Yea, I've heard good things about those too, but my whole point in building a light weight machine is so that I don't have to hip mount the control box because I don't like having extra wires running to me or straps here and there to carry the box. I like only having the headphones "connecting" me to the detector. Makes me feel less entangled when hunting and also allows me to quickly set the machine down should I need to dig a hole or take a nature call or something. If I do decide to use a harness to support the detector weight for really long days (don't think I'll need to with my light weight custom GT with still more weight left to lose!) I'll probably just make my own for about $5 or less in parts. I've seen homemade harnesses and they are just as good as anything commercial yet MUCH less expensive to make.

I'm still looking for some answers on the Rustoleum spray on liner that says "Stops Rust". Guess I've just have to test spray some onto a newspaper and sweep over that with my coil first to make sure there is no zinc or other metals/minerals present. I'm also curious about that plastic tool dip stuff they sell at Home Depot. Anybody like that better? I think I saw it in red up there and want to use something like red or yellow so it will show the black cover wearing through when it's time for a re-paint. I just wonder if that stuff is heavier than using spray on liner. Anybody?

 

[Critterhunter]

I sprayed the Rustoleum bed liner onto a newspaper with about 3 coats and then swept my detector over it. I found no signal present or change in threshold that would indicate any minerals either. Once my worries about that were put to rest I decided to use it on an Excalibur's 8" BBS coil that I'm fixing for a friend.

He wasn't using a coil cover with his fresh water hunting and I found that this coil had developed open seams from wear. These seams are were the coil sides are sealed over the bottom flat portion of the coil. He hasn't used it in a while so I knew it was good and dry inside, but I'm surprised he didn't already destroy it if he was water hunting with those open seams. Perhaps the coil is sealed at it's top as well so that even if water migrated up the seam it couldn't find it's way into the coil at the top, and perhaps these BBS coils are solid epoxy inside which would keep the windings from being exposed to water even if a hole was put into the coil casing.

Anyway, I wanted to first seal those gaps with something before using the spray on liner. It might have filled those gaps but I didn't want to paint it and find out that wasn't going to happen, so I had a choice between using epoxy or Shoe Goo (a rubbery cement and probably the best on the market). Epoxy would for sure be the most durable, but it would also be the hardest to force down good into those seams to make sure it was properly sealed. I decided to use the Shoe Goo. I put a line of it over the seams and then pushed it down into them with my finger as I smoothed it off the coil. I did this three times to make sure it was being forced down into the gaps well.

After it dried I took the coil off the lower shaft and laid it on top of a cardboard box. I then cut a rectangle into the box that would allow the coil's pole mount area to fit down into that, and also a hole so that the cable connector and cable on top of the coil could sit down inside the box as well. This allowed me to sit the coil upside down completely flat on the box to avoid any over spray getting on top of the coil.

I gave the coil 3 coats of the bed liner about ten minutes apart and plan to give it one more coat today when I'm sure everything is cured well. I made sure to spray the sides of the coil with it too because I noticed the coil was showing wear from bulldozing through the sand in that area. The only place the bed liner isn't sprayed is on the very top of the coil, but this stuff looks so good (like a fresh new coil's surface) that I may put painter's tape over the decals on top and then spray the top of the coil as well, at least with a light coat to shine it up.

If I find that the small areas where the Shoe Goo was used are coming off with use I'll probably re-do those spots with epoxy and then re-cover with the bed liner.

My next project will be to use this on my 15x12 SEF coil because it's coil cover weighs 3.6oz and so will be .6 ounces lighter without it's cover than the stock 10" Tornado coil with it's cover still on. The 10" coil's cover weighs 2.5oz so I plan to do that one as well. Before committing to this I'm going to weigh a piece of newspaper, spray 3 coats on it, and then weigh it again. I want to make sure the weight savings will be there, which I bet it will because I can't see this stuff weighing much in grams let alone ounces.

 

[tralon]

A tip for getting the epoxy to smooth out and fill the voids. I wrap fishing rods as a hobby and use a two part epoxy to put on the nylon threads that hold the rod guides. Use a hair dryer to soften the epoxy and make it a little less thick, like reducing the viscosity. Works well.

Dan

 

[Musketeer]

I know this is an older thread, but I e-mailed Garrett's asking if applying bed liner, marine epoxy or liquid plastic would affect my warranties.

Brad, from Tech support answered right back and said that he recommended marine epoxy and that if I applied marine epoxy, it would not void my warranties.

So that's what I will use. Even though it was my least favorite choice. I think it doesn't look as well as the bed liner or liquid plastic.

Now if I can just get it smooth and shiny black.

Musketeer

 

[kered]

Personally i can't see the difference between hip mount and shaft mount cable wise. Hip mount and you have 1 coil cable, shaft mount and you still have one headphone cable attached(being coiled always has some tension on it) although its easy to unplug rather than unscrew the coil cable. The Ideal thing would be a good set of wireless headphones or something like the XP Deus, coil, headphones and control box are wireless with the whole detector including shaft only weighing 850grams, that takes some beating