My Gold And Sand Hand Dredge Review

[mytimetoshine]

Disappointed....Im sure some was user error but I was not able to get material the way I thought I would be able to. It is very awkward to handle all the way around. The bucket always wants to float away. There needs to be a handle of some sort on the base of the pump to give you a stronger pumping action. Or at least make easier to carry. The hose can be wound up to fit in the small bucket with the accessories. The lid wont go on but I can toss it inside of my 5g bucket and its no big deal, but the pump itself could use something. BGT,5g bucket, Pump, and Shovel is a bit much to carry at once, a handle would help.
My main reason for disappointment was the amount of material I was actually getting... There was plenty of dirt and small gravel where I was pumping but it seemed like only water was going thru the hose. I would think ok, it has to be nearly full by now. Dump the water out....and it would barely have anything maybe a 3rd full was the best I did. Both custom nozzles would get a rock stuck in it literally every 10 seconds.... I had to cut my losses after basically wasting an hour and go with my trusty shovel. I figured the bucket would fill up in 10-20 pumps.?was i doing something wrong?

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Like any piece of gear, there is a learning curve...

GnS pump hints:
1. Soak the leather pump seal over night at the beginning of the season so you get good suction (just suck some water out of the sink and leave the water in it)...and/or when you get to your work site put the whole body of the pump under water and pull a few strokes to get some water in there. Lay it aside with water in it until you need it...wet leather seals well!
2. Like any dredge you can't just jam it down in the material...don't hog the nozzle. Instead keep it just above or aside the material and let the suction pull your material in. Just like with a gas powered monster dredge you'll jam it up if you hog the nozzle...then you'll get mostly water, not much material.
3. Get your bucket fairly full of water from the start and if it's totally under water, set a big rock on it so it doesn't want to float away.
4. While in use follow product instructions for orientation of the outbound valve...otherwise you'll get mostly water, not much material.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Like any piece of gear, there is a learning curve...

GnS pump hints:
1. Soak the leather pump seal over night at the beginning of the season so you get good suction (just suck some water out of the sink and leave the water in it)...and/or when you get to your work site put the whole body of the pump under water and pull a few strokes to get some water in there. Lay it aside with water in it until you need it...wet leather seals well!
2. Like any dredge you can't just jam it down in the material...don't hog the nozzle. Instead keep it just above or aside the material and let the suction pull your material in. Just like with a gas powered monster dredge you'll jam it up if you hog the nozzle...then you'll get mostly water, not much material.
3. Get your bucket fairly full of water from the start and if it's totally under water, set a big rock on it so it doesn't want to float away.
4. While in use follow product instructions for orientation of the outbound valve...otherwise you'll get mostly water, not much material.

Thanks! Great advice Kevin. I guess i should have kept the product instructions ?

 

[Follows Camp Craig]

Seriously! folks are playing with slurp guns now?
Somehow I doubt if the Hindenburg was serviced with bicycle pumps.

Next your going to tell me that sluice boxes have been replaced with plastic rain gutters!

I've heard of Pissing in the wind but you Kids are not only barking up the wrong tree
but your angle of prospecting here on out is as about as effective as a fart in a windstorm!

P.T. Barnum was not only a showman, He was a PROPHET!

 

[mrlindeman]

Seriously! folks are playing with slurp guns now?
Somehow I doubt if the Hindenburg was serviced with bicycle pumps.

Next your going to tell me that sluice boxes have been replaced with plastic rain gutters!

I've heard of Pissing in the wind but you Kids are not only barking up the wrong tree
but your angle of prospecting here on out is as about as effective as a fart in a windstorm!

P.T. Barnum was not only a showman, He was a PROPHET!

I use my homemade one to suck the water and silt out of the holes im diggin on bedrock. it helps to clean the surface of the bed rock as well once you get to it.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Tried again today but still no luck...doesnt seem strong enough to pull up material...water no problem, silt no problem....but dirt and rocks...nope. I may give one more try before i sell this thing....

 

[KevinInColorado]

Try dropping an email to the manufacturer describing your experience and asking for advice...he may have a tip for you. Mention that I (Kevin Singel) said hi too,..might help ;-)

 

[team sidewinder]

Not sure why you are having trouble picking up material but mine does extremely well at picking up material of the size to fit through the nozzle. It does seem to work better if you can keep the pump at as low of an angle to the water surface as you can while still getting the nozzle into the material. It can be kind of a pain keeping small rocks from holding one of the two valves open and therefore just pushing your material back out the nozzle again. It is just the nature of the beast and like all gold prospecting there is a time and a place where this will work better than others. Follow KevinInColorado's advice as he is very knowledgeable on all things pertaining to prospecting for gold.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Not sure why you are having trouble picking up material but mine does extremely well at picking up material of the size to fit through the nozzle. It does seem to work better if you can keep the pump at as low of an angle to the water surface as you can while still getting the nozzle into the material. It can be kind of a pain keeping small rocks from holding one of the two valves open and therefore just pushing your material back out the nozzle again. It is just the nature of the beast and like all gold prospecting there is a time and a place where this will work better than others. Follow KevinInColorado's advice as he is very knowledgeable on all things pertaining to prospecting for gold.

Thanks dude! ...and good point that I forgot to make. The physics of pumps of all sorts means that the less you are lifting vertically the better the pump will work. Especially true with a manual pump like this!

 

[deserdog]

Just the nature of that type of pump. I know how to make them, and could easily sell all I could make, but they do not work that well. So I do not make them. Numerous problems:
Material getting stuck in the check valves.
Small nozzle size, you have to move everything it does not suck up by hand.
Hose limits mobility.
Small amount of material sucked up per stroke.
Price

I use various types of sucker, from 1 1/4 barrels up to 3 inch barrels, depending on the type of prosepcting I am doing. If I am just cleaning out cracks and crevices, I will use a 1 1/4" sucker with nozzles, or a 2 inch with nozzles. Quickly and easily cleans out cracks and crevices.

If I am moving material from underneath booulders, I will use a 2 " or a 3".

All are simple to use, no check valves, no hoses, no limits on mobility.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Not sure why you are having trouble picking up material but mine does extremely well at picking up material of the size to fit through the nozzle. It does seem to work better if you can keep the pump at as low of an angle to the water surface as you can while still getting the nozzle into the material. It can be kind of a pain keeping small rocks from holding one of the two valves open and therefore just pushing your material back out the nozzle again. It is just the nature of the beast and like all gold prospecting there is a time and a place where this will work better than others. Follow KevinInColorado's advice as he is very knowledgeable on all things pertaining to prospecting for gold.

Hmmm....maybe the valve is stuck open I did notice material coming back out of the nozzel but I thought it was just excess material that hadnt been pushed through the hose...

 

[outwardjourney]

Sounds like you sir, may have an air leak.
Air is a problem. If you're not sealed it can't create enough vacuum pressure to suck up heavier material.
Think of it as a snuffer bottle on a grand scale.

 

[Jeff95531]

Just the nature of that type of pump. I know how to make them, and could easily sell all I could make, but they do not work that well. So I do not make them. Numerous problems:
Material getting stuck in the check valves.
Small nozzle size, you have to move everything it does not suck up by hand.
Hose limits mobility.
Small amount of material sucked up per stroke.
Price

I use various types of sucker, from 1 1/4 barrels up to 3 inch barrels, depending on the type of prosepcting I am doing. If I am just cleaning out cracks and crevices, I will use a 1 1/4" sucker with nozzles, or a 2 inch with nozzles. Quickly and easily cleans out cracks and crevices.

If I am moving material from underneath booulders, I will use a 2 " or a 3".

All are simple to use, no check valves, no hoses, no limits on mobility.

So what exactly are you using that works so well? I know that reads bad, but I am sincere in asking and maybe I just missed it. A hand suction dredge is on my winter projects do list and I'm still not sure which it will be and buy or build?

 

[Jeff95531]

Well, I Googled barrel gold suction and found these two for starters. Interesting as I had not seen them before and the descriptions and performance match what desertdog described. Gonna go watch the videos now. Edit: Just watched the first one. Oh my, what an ending! MUST SEE!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BELTMOUNT-H...d=100011&prg=1005&rk=4&rkt=5&sd=111220296567&

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DRYLAND-WET...LUICE-GOLD-SUCKER-CREVICE-PUMP-/251392390923?

 

[IdahoJake]

I have 2 GoldnSand dredges and they work fine for me. You have to allow the seals to soak properly and not overwhelm the valves with too much material at one time. The valves also must be kept fairly clear...so I will pump material and then make several pumps with just water. My biggest issue is material clogging at the "el" joint on top of the bucket...but other than that, I move a lot of material when I'm crevicing with them.

I also use a large super sucker hand dredge when I'm getting material from behind large boulders in the creek. 4" barrel. Simple operation. Sucks up a ton of material!

 

[MadMarshall]

THROW IT AWAY!!! it will never be able move enough dirt to make it a tool.. Its only use is to the men who sell it and they are spending your money... It's bad enough that they took your doe don't give them your time as well..

 

[deserdog]

I use a 3 inch when sluicing on the creek, or a 2 inch with nozzles for an area that has crevices. The 3 inch will suck up material faster than most sluices can process the material. Works best if you have one person sucking up material and another working the classifier on the sluice. The 45 at the end of the barrel keeps the material in the barrel until you point the 45 down. Very simple to use.

 

[mytimetoshine]

THROW IT AWAY!!! it will never be able move enough dirt to make it a tool.. Its only use is to the men who sell it and they are spending your money... It's bad enough that they took your doe don't give them your time as well..

OK. I'm officially done with this thing. I have tried it every which way. this thing is worthless. I could get more dirt with a spoon in swift current.

Next stop: EBAY

 

[Goldgrabber]

Make your own, I've just put a video on showing how to make a manual powered dredge sucker and they're so easy to make I'd never buy one

 

[MadJack_ME]

And what did this GNS sucker cost

It seems some companies go through quite a bit to hide the price of over-engineered items.

Someone gave me a 30" hand-dredge they built for $11. Once the leather is wet, (5 seconds in water) it sucks up to 1 gallon of heavy slurry, I deliver to the LeTrap unclassified.
There are places I hike into, other places are limited on what can be used, still other places with not enough water for a regular dredge but too much water to scoop out by hand.
Like my Leatherman multi tool, it's not perfect but it works.