Sand Shark Maintenance?

[MonsterTab]

I hear talk of greasing this, sealing that. I thought I could just go play in the salt water, rinse this thing off and wait for next time? How much clean up is involved and how much of a PITA is it? Thanks.

 

[tvr]

You can just go play and then rinse it off. Over time you will find that the poles won't come apart and the pole locks get really locked and you won't be able to loosen them. Every few hunts it doesn't hurt to take the pole connections apart, rinse and wipe them down with a clean cloth. Make sure you clean up the spring clips too. A little bit of WD40 on the spring clips if they are sticking doesn't hurt. Keep the WD40 away from the detector body, particularly the faceplate. I don't know that WD40 will eat the O-rings that seal around the potentiometer / switch shafts and the faceplate O-ring, but I'm not going to do that experiment to find out.

When a good clean up is needed is when you are ready to change the batteries. For that clean up, unclip the detector box from the shaft and very carefully clean up the detector with damp cloths and finish with dry soft lint free cloths. Any sand or other junk (including lint) that may get under the O-ring could cause leakage and you don't want that. After changing batteries, a very thin coating of silicon grease (food grade or diver's regulator grease) should go on the O-ring. I put a very small bit on my index finger and then touch it to my thumb. Then work the O-ring between thumb and index finger to put only enough on the O-ring to make it look glossy.

It really is not a lot of maintenance to do. It isn't hard to do and does not take a lot of time.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
tvr

PS I do not recommend changing batteries when on the beach. To much risk of getting sand under the O-ring in my opinion.

 

[MonsterTab]

You can just go play and then rinse it off. Over time you will find that the poles won't come apart and the pole locks get really locked and you won't be able to loosen them. Every few hunts it doesn't hurt to take the pole connections apart, rinse and wipe them down with a clean cloth. Make sure you clean up the spring clips too. A little bit of WD40 on the spring clips if they are sticking doesn't hurt. Keep the WD40 away from the detector body, particularly the faceplate. I don't know that WD40 will eat the O-rings that seal around the potentiometer / switch shafts and the faceplate O-ring, but I'm not going to do that experiment to find out.

When a good clean up is needed is when you are ready to change the batteries. For that clean up, unclip the detector box from the shaft and very carefully clean up the detector with damp cloths and finish with dry soft lint free cloths. Any sand or other junk (including lint) that may get under the O-ring could cause leakage and you don't want that. After changing batteries, a very thin coating of silicon grease (food grade or diver's regulator grease) should go on the O-ring. I put a very small bit on my index finger and then touch it to my thumb. Then work the O-ring between thumb and index finger to put only enough on the O-ring to make it look glossy.

It really is not a lot of maintenance to do. It isn't hard to do and does not take a lot of time.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
tvr

PS I do not recommend changing batteries when on the beach. To much risk of getting sand under the O-ring in my opinion.

Appreciate it, Im way ahead of myself on this but just shopping is fun.

I have a Vaq coming next week, but we take a week long beach vacation once a year, so thinking of grabbing me a beach detector next spring. Sand Shark seems to be the best bang for the buck, that or maybe a Garret MK Hunter. Either way, thanks for the tip.

 

[tvr]

Unless you completely ignore everything else on a week beach vacation and spend every waking hour hunting, then you should be good to go for the full week on one set of new alkalines in the Sand Shark. If you have it prepared with fresh batteries before the vacation then I'd expect it to be just play and rinse it off coming off the beach for the vacation week. If you do spend every waking hour hunting, then you may need to do a battery change. Can't speak to the Garrett since I haven't had one.
Cheers,
tvr

 

[rjsupersonic]

Silicone spray works on the clips too. I use Silicone Grease on the rubber seal, got it at Ace.