My 4 inch dredge build x2....

[shamaalah]

Initially i was building a twin 5 incher but after thinking about how things are nowadays, I split the engines up to make 2 four inchers. Main reason being if something 'happens' (chose one) I have a back up. Second reason being portability. I must must must be ultra-portable and light weight. So after thinking things long and hard I resorted to some older technology with a few of my own upgrades. Here we have two 60 inch truck inner tubes with a homemade DACRON sleeve for puncture proofing. I rigged a 'shelf' inside the donut hole for fuel storage and a 'platform ring' on top. The sleeve was really an after-thought because these tubes refuse to fill evenly thru-out and distort severely. I ended up making a 'spine' for it out of PEX tubing and it brought it all together. I put a bubble level across the platform and it was perfectly level...I couldn't believe it. You can see the 'spine' on the inside circumference of the tube. Everything's held securely with 12,000# break strength ratcheting straps. This is a no-weld project....completely collapsible. Total weight: 20lbs each. Total cost so far $70 bucks each

PS. Im going to run the straps thru a piece of rubber hose at the bottom of the tube for more wear-proofing.

[TheRandyMan]

Lets do this brutha!!

I have been wanting to build a setup like this for a long time! Gonna be great to see your project!

[shamaalah]

Lets do this brutha!!

I have been wanting to build a setup like this for a long time! Gonna be great to see your project!

'Preciate that boss. Heres my engine(s) setup.... 6hp Subarus with Gold Grabber pumps (350gpm) from Alan Trees. Still racking my brain on how I'm going to mount these....gotta think about balance. I'm thinking about making a hybrid submersible suction dredge/sluice box and actually mounting it 'UNDER' the float...this way i could just center the engine in the 'center' and not 'off-center' to accommodate the sluice...we'll see.

[shamaalah]

Project on hold because of job loss...have to resort to gravity dredging just to get the ball rolling...100ft long 4" corrugated pipe does the trick. Now if I can just raise enough moolah for a ticket outta here....

[shamaalah]

Breathing life back into the project little by little. Just got 20ft of 2 inch hose with couplings from Capital Rubber (pricey stuff) and fabbed up some 4in suction nozzles from pvc with built in water blaster hose. Not the sexiest things in the world but....

these puppies would of ran me $400+ a pop each of pre-fabbed steel from a company I will not mention here...think im gonna paint them with truck bed paint...

.....going to skip getting a 4in flex suction hose and go with the smooth cored 4 inch corrugated pipe...9 bux for 20 ft .....can't beat it. kind of a B to transport around but i dont plan on dismantling my dredges too often.....going with 10ft lengths for each dredge for now...


in this pic water blaster is yet to be installed and the white pvc coupling is a LOWES job...brass couplings on other end... sorry bout the crap pics