building dredge pontoons

njcommercialdiver

Sr. Member
Feb 26, 2005
318
293
Eastern PA
Detector(s) used
Garrett At Pro,
MX500 Proton Mag
fisher gold bug, whites PI, Garrett gold scorpion
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I used a set of pontoons from a floating pool lounge chair on my sneak 3" , it even has 2 cup holders molded in

IMG_3203_zps2ad5497e.jpg
now have to upgrade to a p90 pump for more power
 

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russau

Gold Member
May 29, 2005
7,250
6,701
St. Louis, missouri
I have Keene floats on my dredge BUT if I were making another dredge, id aquire some of the square 5 gallon cooking oil bottles. cheap , easy to find and easy to replace. plus after cleaning them out you can haul water in them in the meantime for camp use!
 

Reed Lukens

Silver Member
Jan 1, 2013
2,653
5,417
Congres, AZ/ former California Outlawed Gold Miner
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Vaquero, Whites MXT, Vsat, GMT, 5900Di Pro, Minelab GPX 5000, GPXtreme, 2200SD, Excalibur 1000!
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I used a set of pontoons from a floating pool lounge chair on my sneak 3" , it even has 2 cup holders molded in

View attachment 1090113
now have to upgrade to a p90 pump for more power

Where did you come up with that old 60's crash box? :) I like it :)
The P100 with a 4hp motor would be the minimum and for great suction the HP300 from Proline with a 5hp motor, which is a high pressure high banker pump would be killer.
http://www.prolinemining.com/gold_dredges_3_inch.html
 

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njcommercialdiver

Sr. Member
Feb 26, 2005
318
293
Eastern PA
Detector(s) used
Garrett At Pro,
MX500 Proton Mag
fisher gold bug, whites PI, Garrett gold scorpion
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I looked at a picture and made it, works nice in shallows with the power nozzle. if you look close theres black marks where I estimated it would float, when it was running and a full box of water, it sat exactly at the marks. the pump on it in the pic wasn't powerful enough, so Im using it as a floater with a 2" pump on the bank feeding it

box is 36" long since my bender is only 36"
 

TxGoldDigger

Jr. Member
Feb 17, 2015
22
4
Texas
Detector(s) used
Tesoro, Proline 2.5" combo
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I am getting floatation foam cut in OKC for a dredge plus extension......by Taylor Foam Inc. 4 pieces will cost me a total of $55....

that's for 2 pieces 6" x 48" 12" thick for the main dredge
2 pieces 6" x 48" 6" thick for the extension
 

mikeandwife91

Greenie
Sep 24, 2005
14
3
Akron Ohio
Here is what I used. 8" Sch. 40 PVC fastened with Unistrut so everything can be easily dismantled. Using the Strut also allows me to slide the dredge forward or back depending on how the weight is distributed.
our dredge smaller pic.jpg
 

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njcommercialdiver

Sr. Member
Feb 26, 2005
318
293
Eastern PA
Detector(s) used
Garrett At Pro,
MX500 Proton Mag
fisher gold bug, whites PI, Garrett gold scorpion
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
heres a couple pics of the sneak dredge running in North Carolina in august, I used it on days when the river got muddy from the rain. it got some decent gold. the first day I was there, I ran it for 20 minutes after I splashed my 4" and got it where I wanted to start working the next day. I found 12 flakes of gold in my cleanout. not bad for a quick run. don't know why the one turned on its side, it was fine in my computer
2015 nc my sneak dredge cleanup.jpg 2015 nc my sneak dredge2.jpg 2015 nc my sneak dredge3.jpg
I also attatched alice pack straps on snap clips thru holes drilled in pontoon framework and can carry everything on my back except motor
2015 nc my sneak dredge on back.jpg
 

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