Photo of your Sovereign

[Serge]

Sov with my home made "bungee-swing" I use the same bungee on the Exc.

The 16.5" coil is what i call the after party coil. It cover a lot of beach, it is not to heavy and i can still go in the water with it. There is not to much surface for the wave to pick-up the coil.

 

[plugger]

[attachment 167763 IraandMe007LargeWebview.jpg][attachment 167762 IraandMe005LargeWebview.jpg]

I use this setup on a 2" web belt so I can slide it out of the way real easy, I use a Sun Ray S-8 (8") coil on a custom straight rod (weighs less than 2 pounds total swing weight).

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Plugger,I should hip mount more.Looks like a good setup to save the back and shoulder.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

David59123,welcome to the forum.The S-12 is a great coil and like the older XS Sovereign series.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Bling,you have a good idea with tape over the speaker for your hunting enviroment.Minelab probably could make some money making a lighter wader model Sovereign.

 

[lloyd0161]

With all of the excellent and clean examples of workmanship in modding the Sovereign, I decided to clean mine up a bit more as well. I was able to carefully remove the cam lock from the original shaft and fit it to my new 7/8" anodized aluminum tubing from the local hardware. The shaft cost $9. The ID of the tubing was slightly larger than desired but it locks up just fine with no wobble in the lower shaft. There is a metal supermarket near me that has the correct tubing with and ID of 0.745" but I saved about $20. Good enough for now. The hand grip is a bicycle bar cap in anodized aluminum for $10. This came with the small plastic cap to also finish off the end of the shaft I think I need to tone down the sharpness of the checkering on the grip though. It feels like I removed quite a bit of weight from the assembly and it has a more balanced feel. I tried hip mounting the controls but I hate wrestling with the chord.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Lloyd0161,It usually takes a couple of times out in the field to get the final adjustments made for the Sovereign straight shaft.You'll probably notice how much more comfortable these mods are over the stock S rod asm.Good Luck.

 

[Critterhunter]

Those are some great looking machines. I like the idea about using the "hand strap" on the hand grip as the spot to link a swingy thingy type rig to. Here's a link to more info on my light weight land rig and water rig setups for any new guys who are interested. Also, in the mods forum you can find a large thread with further in.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1164138,page=1

 

[w6pea]

Great set up and pictures.

 

[Serge]

here's more pictures of my set up, but with the Excal.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?26,1020493,1033828#msg-1033828

 

[matthias]

I've been hip-mounting lately. The Minelab shaft is sporting a SEF 18x15 coil and the other S-bend shaft has a 5" Excelerator coil and Digisearch meter. The GT is housed in the "finds" pouch that came with the detector. I cut a hole in the bottom for the coil cable.

 

[Critterhunter]

How do you like that 18x15 coil? I think you are the first Sovereign user I've seen that is using one. Is it deeper on coins than the stock coil? I've read that that coil is beyond the point of return when it comes to coin sized targets at greater depths. Most say the 15x12 is the limit in that respect, but I bet you love the coverage of that thing and that alone will cause you to find more targets. Would also make a great relic or cache coil.

 

[matthias]

I like the 18x15 though it is a bit heavy. Hip must is a must for me with it. I like to know I'm covering as much ground as I can be, when time is limited and I'm looking for relics. The little Gator digger gets left at home and the small shovel comes along when this coil goes out. Can't say how it does for coins since I haven't dared to use this monster anywhere there is trash. I'm glad I bought it last year before the price sky-rocketed! HH. Matt.

 

[element]

Changed a few things on my sov so heres an updated pic..

Added a rubber grip which was badly needed.. Had to play around with the position of the handle and Im still playing with it now. Im getting another armcup with im gonna cut the fins off the back (no needed) so that I can have the control box higher (cant fit it any higher at the min because the fins stop you from sliding the box onto the v clip)

Also swapped the 10inch BBS coil for a 12.5inch Excellerator. Need to spray the bottom of it as their is no coil cover and seem to be like rocking horse **** to find! The excellerator is a good 200gms at least lighter than the stock 10inch BBS.. Makes such a difference!

Made my own armcup strap from an old backpack strap. Even can be adjusted.

Still got to do the battery mod. Im really considering doing what critterhunter has done and go lipo.. the stock nicad pack is quite heavy..

 

[dbsmokey]

Lloyd,

Where did you get the handlebar?

 

[element]

its a bar end for mountain bikes. cost me

 

[Critterhunter]

Looks great. How do you like that coil compared to the old 10" BBS coil? Would like to hear the deepest coin ever dug on land or at the beach?

 

[element]

to be honest I dont think it is that much deeper than the old bbs 1000 (which is what others have said but there isnt much info out there on these coils as you probably know. If it is then there isnt much in it. maybe an inch or two).. I need to test it more before I can say for sure as Ive only hunted with it 3 times.. I have dug a few holes deeper than usual but that could be due to my poor pinpointing with this coil so the target could of fallen deeper into the hole?.. Pinpointing is a bit harder but I expected that. Few more hunts and I will be used to it.

I have heard some say the sunray S12 is better and it probably is. Will have to try one out sometime..

even if the excellerator is only slightly deeper Ive still gained on coverage and lost at least 5-6oz off the coil!