Travel with Excal

[recout]

I will be flying from New Jersey to Fort Laurderdale and want to bring my excal. How do you guys pack it? I was thinking of putting my scoop in my suitcase and ship my carbon fiber handle and my excal straight shaft to my hotel. I am not sure if I want to carry on the excal or pack it....looking for some tips. Also if you have have tips for hunting in Fort laurderdale let me know...Thanks.

 

[adamBomb]

I have traveled with my CZ21 a bunch and use this exact case to pack it:

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=22813316

I am a little more cautious with my Excal because its a bit more fragile than the CZ but I think this would work quit well for it too. I usually put a blanket inside and make sure it cannot move at all. Also, I dont actually need to take the machine apart to pack it in this case either other than sliding the lower shaft all the way into the upper (a joke just formed in my head when I said that lol). There are places for locks on it too.

 

[tvr]

Flew to Fort Laurderdale three weeks ago. Packed Detector Pro HeadHunter pulse and Wader for this latest trip. They pack easily. Found a lot of soft sand, not much washed out. Did manage a huge silver ring with good stones.

Have flown with Excal a few times. I keep the knob guard on it to protect it in the suitcase. Suitcase carries a travel scoop with travel handle, dive boots, detector, shafts, chargers / batteries, couple of tools and cloths for padding stuff. I normally take two detectors and have frequently been glad I did when some sort of issue comes up with one of the detectors. Couple of years ago, with the Excal, had the battery pod develop a crack and take on water and killed the battery pack; did not have a spare battery pod with me. Had a CZ along for that trip so it got most of the detecting time.

I've got travel handle for scoop and shafts for the detectors that break down to fit into the suitcase. Had not had a problem staying under 50 pounds for the packed bag; although I'm normally only under by a pound or two.

I normally take a picture of the packed bag before the last of the clothing padding goes in so I have some documentation if I ever need to file a claim.

Have not tried shipping to hotel.

Good luck on your trip and I hope you find more washed out areas than I did.
Cheers,
tvr

 

[recout]

anyone ever put it in their carry-on? I was thinking about a carry-on with excal didn't know if tsa would give a hard time.

 

[tvr]

For one vacation a few years ago, I did carry on a CZ6a in a case made for the detector. Heading south they opened it up, looked and asked what the parts were; coil (they said "what?" I said "like an antenna, for metal detection"), detector circuit box, shaft parts, batteries. Then they closed the case and we were on our way. On flight home, I heard the person looking at the scan image say "metal detector" and they let me pick the case off the conveyor belt and head onto the plane with no questions. Trips since then, I've packed the detectors in the checked bags. That lets me take a computer as my carry on rather than a detector.