Excalibur users......Coil cover question for you.

[madmikegolf]

Do any of you use caulking or silicone to seal the coil to the coil cover so sand does not get in? If so, what type of sealant are you using ? Thanks Mike

 

[Horsesoldier]

I used a black sealant found in the counter top section of Lowes. It's messy but you'll only have to do it once.

 

[Ron Lord]

I through away the coil cover and then fiber glass my coil , that got rid of all the false signals

 

[Tony from Tidewater]

MMG: Here are a couple of suggestions. You can use silicone caulking (aquarium silicone) put a very light bead all over the coil/cover Another suggestion would be, is take off your coil cover and put on 2 Coates of marine epoxy. you can buy it at Lowe's, home depot. It turns light grey when it drys, but it protects it and you won't have the falsing. Last suggestion is go to pep boys or advance auto, and buy some spray on bed liner (black) it sticks great to the plastic coil. Put 2 to 3 Coates on the coil. Again, leave your coil cover off for the spray on bed liner. I hope I helped, good luck with your decision....

 

[Floridabill]

I just sent my ex cal. ll in for repairs and while I had the rep from Minelab on the phone I asked that very question. I was told that epoxy will void the warranty and they said to use silicone....

 

[JoeL0]

I also llike the idea of the marine epoxy and when, in 3 yrs, my warranty comes off my excalibur. will be done.

 

[scubadetector]

Well I don't have an Excabular but I do have 2 CZ-21's that I use underwater. I keep the coil covers on them. Also inside the coil cover I engraved my name and phone number. If my machines ever gets stolen I hope to be able to recover them becasue of that bit of information.

 

[silver searcher]

I've sealed my coil cover on with general purpose acrylic sealant. This does not cure solid and it is not too difficult to remove the cover at any time if it should become damaged or worn.Happy hunting!

 

[JW]

I don't seal it at all, I just remove the cover and rinse it out.

 

[PaPa-Joe-Fla.]

I just clean mine, every few hours. Gives me a chance to rest, but others would use that time to hunt. Your preference. I like Scubas ideal of engraving your ID inside. HH

 

[mham2]

I tried silicone and it did not hold up. mike from Virginia beach put me on to a marine epoxy made by loctite works great .i left my cover on and sealed the edges and covered the bottom,have had no trouble with it, works great.If you do a search under mike from Virginia beach you will find a pic of the product. good luck.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Here you go...this is what it looks like on my Fisher CZ-70. On my Excal I have actually combined my idea and Tony's, coating the coil with epoxy and then doing the bedliner spray on top of that. Bulletproof AND it looks good too. Of course I would recommend leaving the coil cover off completely as it won't be necessary with the epoxy coating on the bottom. Just check it every few months and if it's gotten any chips or anything, add another coat. The first coat should actually be a couple of coats a couple hours apart, using half the tube for the first application and the other half for the second.
[attachment 93611 EpoxyCoil.jpg]

[attachment 93612 epoxy1.jpg]

 

[Crash620]

I initially went the route of using silicone with the coil cover. I was really careful to make a complete seal. During my second outing, I started getting some falsing, so I checked the coil cover. Apparently I left a small pinhole because when I grabbed the coil, water trickled out through the tiniest hole. When I pulled the cover off, there was a fair amount of water that had forced its way in. Went with the Epoxy and its been smooth sailing. Never heard it voided the warranty before, bet if everyone started sending in warranty work for falsing with silicon sealed coil covers that leaked, that would void the warranty too.....

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I agree with you...the silicone is a short term solution that WILL fail. The epoxy will hold up indefinitely if it's not chipped or dinged. If it is, you reapply it. And in a worst case scenario, you will only void the warranty on the coil, not the rest of it. And the electronics, battery wire, and headphones is where you will have problems if you do, generally. Minelab is pretty cool about standing behind their stuff, within reason. Or at least they HAVE been.

 

[Floridabill]

Mike could you give a little more detail, how long you have to put this on (before it sets up) Do you apply it with a brush? Do you tape the sides amd top of the coil, or after the epoxy dries you just spray the whole thing with the bed liner? On my ex cal. ll I like the fact that I have the color on the top of the coil its helps when in clear water and I would hate to cover that up.

.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Yeah, I hear ya...love that green on the Excal II. I would mask the top, then do the bottom of the coil in the epoxy, coming up the sides all the way around and inside too by about 1/4 inch. The coats will dry in about an hour, so after an hour you can do it again. Then wait another hour or 2 and spray the bed liner. I think you can do two coats of that and be good. Maybe 1/2 between coats on that and wait at least an hour after the last coat before you use it in the water or at the beach, mostly to ensure you don't get sand stuck to it. Enjoy!