Finderskeeper
Active member
I was somewhat happy with my Beach Brute scoop but I sold it a while ago. It was big for sure. It really dug up a lot of sand...but most of the sand was sideways.....it was wide but not as deep as I wanted. So I sold it on E-bay and sat down and figured I don't want to spend another $150 to $250 for the ready made scoops. I had some aluminum laying around and some stainless steel....so I sat down and designed a scoop that I thought would be the perfect scoop for me.
I had a few hours to fool around so I got down to work and built this thing. It is not real heavy.....actually lighter than the Beach Brute at a little over 4 and a half pounds. Balances really well on my shoulder. Angle of the handle is right on as it hangs with the lip almost straight down. Darn...there is a lot to designing and building a scoop. This thing has 210 holes! Drill....drill....drill.....luckily I was smart and stacked some of the plates. I have a tig welder, drill press and a plasma cutter so building a scoop is easy for me.
The handles are 1 inch schedule 40 aluminum pipe. The main body is 1/8 inch aluminum plate and the lip is stainless steel. The top plate is 3/32 aluminum plate where the handle mounts to the scoop. It's all tig welded with rivets for the stainless steel lip. It will have hand grips soon. The 1 foot swimming noodle keeps the handle above the water line really well. The scoop itself is 6.5 inches at the opening stainless tip widening to 8.5 inches at the top and 13 inches deep.
Took it to a local Lake Erie beach and this thing digs way better than any of my previous scoops. I have to admit, it was fun to build. Saved myself a ton of cash and got something I'll be happy with.....until I come up with another design! If you can do it, I recommend building your own scoop.
Getting ready for Florida.....got to get my Excalibur converted to the Mel Parker/Oldbeechnut remote pin point switch. Have on order the Doc's Treasure Amp. Going to be a busy winter.
I had a few hours to fool around so I got down to work and built this thing. It is not real heavy.....actually lighter than the Beach Brute at a little over 4 and a half pounds. Balances really well on my shoulder. Angle of the handle is right on as it hangs with the lip almost straight down. Darn...there is a lot to designing and building a scoop. This thing has 210 holes! Drill....drill....drill.....luckily I was smart and stacked some of the plates. I have a tig welder, drill press and a plasma cutter so building a scoop is easy for me.
The handles are 1 inch schedule 40 aluminum pipe. The main body is 1/8 inch aluminum plate and the lip is stainless steel. The top plate is 3/32 aluminum plate where the handle mounts to the scoop. It's all tig welded with rivets for the stainless steel lip. It will have hand grips soon. The 1 foot swimming noodle keeps the handle above the water line really well. The scoop itself is 6.5 inches at the opening stainless tip widening to 8.5 inches at the top and 13 inches deep.
Took it to a local Lake Erie beach and this thing digs way better than any of my previous scoops. I have to admit, it was fun to build. Saved myself a ton of cash and got something I'll be happy with.....until I come up with another design! If you can do it, I recommend building your own scoop.
Getting ready for Florida.....got to get my Excalibur converted to the Mel Parker/Oldbeechnut remote pin point switch. Have on order the Doc's Treasure Amp. Going to be a busy winter.
