24 Dredge

[OKIE]

24' Dredge

Hello fellow prospectors, my name is Ray but as you know I go by "OKIE" on here. This may be a fun thread as I am wondering how to go about turning a 24' pontoon boat into a ocean dredge? Not that I am going to do it but it is something I have been kicking around in my head since the first airing of "Baring Sea Gold" dredging show.

1) Okay now what I want to know is what size of dredges "YOU" would use and WHY?

2) How would you set up the layout of the deck? IE sluice boxes pumps. Remember this is a 8' wide by 20' deck. the pontoons are 24' long. and a whole LOT more sea worthy than what I have seen on that show.

3) What other equipment would be needed.

I just thought this would be kind of fun since most if not all of you have more experience at this type of stuff than I do, and for the part most of are sitting on our butts waiting for the new prospecting season to start up again, and we are always trying to figure out something or build something...RIGHT?? LOL
So do some thinking on it and let me know your thoughts on this if you don't mind and have some EXTRA time on your hands!!

Thanks and God Bless
OKIE

 

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[russau]

Re: 24' Dredge

funny you should ask! a friend of mine up in oregon posted the same question about 8 years back and it has had me thinking and my wife saying NOOOOOO WAY sorta loud! but id build it just like a regular dredge layout and id go as big as you can aford . minimum 6-8 inchs on the hose dia.. water heater.twin engine/pumps (size depending on hose,sluice,depth of water,ETC.) a Gast aircompressor set up for two divers. access to the equipment is everything! twin engines for the pontoon boat and some sort of backup incase of a "Gold Rush Syndrum" hits you between the eyes! ive wanted to build one of these and take it up the Mississippi/Missouri River for some sampleing! the sand and gravel people are sucking up fine gold and some of them are saving it! a sand and gravel permit is one of the easyest ones to get! put a screened tent/bar-b-q pit/radio and coolers and go for it! now youll have my wife "talking" LOUD at me again!

 

[Hoser John]

Re: 24' Dredge

FIRST you need a lease($15k) to even run anything and a place to live,both hard to find and ungodly expensive in AK.. Then simply go to Precision dredge and Wyatt will hook ya up with the best pumps/equipment in the biz. He was lookn' for co-op deals so just tell'm Hoser sent ya please and you will get a assist in your fun project-tons a au 2 u 2 -John PS-8"-10" is what ya want with a nice over under configuration in the box to get it ALL and not just the larger stuff as micro is 10X the flakes

 

[bill-costa rica]

Re: 24' Dredge

something like this ?



bill-cr

 

[russau]

Re: 24' Dredge

yep, that would do for me!

 

[Goodyguy]

Re: 24' Dredge

That looks to be at least a 32 footer to me
Awesome set up

 

[Hoser John]

Re: 24' Dredge

YAHOO BCR finally a decent rig,plenty of floatation,safety rails,clean build,no junk laying all over, operator safety and box man comfort,looks like a real deal and NOT Bering sea bs. Toooooo much foam in the box,sure hope it's a over/under for fines retention. Thanx much Bill as was beginning to think that all up there were idjets like the AK shows. Would really like to see a cleanup,friends of yours tons a au 2 u 2 -John

 

[bill-costa rica]

Re: 24' Dredge

no john, I don´t know him. I have followed his videos for years. he is a Nome dredger and built that dredge for a friend of his. he did the build in 13 days and shipped it to Nome , finished up in Nome. he is quite a guy. built a winter ice dredge and dredged thru the ice in Nome last year. I think he is just starting a new build right now. looks to be a bit bigger, but the same type and quality..

bill-cr

 

[GrayCloud]

Re: 24' Dredge

Wonder what that rig cost?
Buddy, they need one of your units on the tail end of that sluice. It is without a doubt a more professional looking dredge rig, than the one's they are showing on the TV show.

 

[oragonads]

Re: 24' Dredge

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/bod/2812749226.html

Problem solved, both living quarters and an awesome platform of a dredge. I can just see it, twin 10" hoses pumping into an indoor sluice / concentration room. Top floor is living quarters. Aghhhhhhh, i need to win the lottery.

 

[russau]

Re: 24' Dredge

also look for repos! there ought tobe a lot of them also!

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

Re: 24' Dredge

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/bod/2812749226.html

Problem solved, both living quarters and an awesome platform of a dredge. I can just see it, twin 10" hoses pumping into an indoor sluice / concentration room. Top floor is living quarters. Aghhhhhhh, i need to win the lottery.

Awesome setup, unfortunately it would probably cost about $80,000 to get it up to Nome. Traveling through Alaska all the way to Nome is EXPENSIVE. If you guys want to be able to work year round, try the tropics. I love it here in Ecuador!

 

[oragonads]

Re: 24' Dredge

Hmmmmm, there are a lot of 100 + foot old rusting barges sitting in the Columbia river near where I live............. Just day dreaming a little bit

 

[russau]

Re: 24' Dredge

always a possibility but the cost to move it would be the killer for me!

 

[CaptJohn]

Re: 24' Dredge

Check out the links from the Nome Vistor Center about NEW rules for mining the Sea at NOME. Stuff like adding 3 more permit agencies, for a total of 5 permits, Must report Gold take (sales). Limit on suction nozzle size,, limits on pump HP sizes, only one suction dredge per vessel, and they are going to limit ownershipr (?). A person can only own interest in one rig on a percentage basis. If he owns part of 2 rigs or more, the others, if used must be rented out on a fixed rate contract, not on a percentage. There is a west and a east beach area, that each goes out 1/4 mile, one is limited to 6 inch dredge the other 8 inches.
www.visitnomealaska.com then click on Gold Dredging and then click the 4 or 5 links for the details. I would love to be there this summer, but red tape will abound, and I bet they will be hassled next summer with on board inspections.

What do yall mean when you say " use an under over " in the box ? Also, great video, but near the end isn't that rocking sideways hell on keeping fine gold in the sluice, looks to me it would swash outa there, rocking side to side as it was, guess u can't do much about that, but if it got ruff i would be worried that it would wash out the fine gold I got before it got ruff..??

 

[russau]

Re: 24' Dredge

a over/under sluice box is two sluices. one over the top of the other. as the cons come through the flair, they cross over a screen that drops the fines down to the lower sluice (classification) and the bigger stuff goes over the top sluice. any other way will have you loseing lots of the fine gold out the rear of your sluice.i have this set up on my 4 inch dredge for 9 years.it works!thankyou John!

 

[Goodyguy]

Re: 24' Dredge

a over/under sluice box is two sluices. one over the top of the other. as the cons come through the flair, they cross over a screen that drops the fines down to the lower sluice (classification) and the bigger stuff goes over the top sluice. any other way will have you loseing lots of the fine gold out the rear of your sluice.i have this set up on my 4 inch dredge for 9 years.it works!thankyou John!

A great way to recover the coarse gold without loosing the fines

I would set the bottom sluice to run slower water, less angle, and no riffles with a vortex mat or a carpet, under expanded metal.

GG~

 

[CaptJohn]

Re: 24' Dredge

OK, I kinda got the idea. But a pic or diagraphm might be needed before I would try to put one together, any pics of one somewhere? From what I'm thinking i believe the bottom one would sand up pretty quick, unless that top piece to let it fall is like a small screen? .

 

[Goodyguy]

Re: 24' Dredge

OK, I kinda got the idea. But a pic or diagraphm might be needed before I would try to put one together, any pics of one somewhere? From what I'm thinking i believe the bottom one would sand up pretty quick, unless that top piece to let it fall is like a small screen? .

Here is one that Oragonads built. Best I've seen

You have to scroll down the page to see the build......
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,400183.msg2854563.html#msg2854563

 

[oragonads]

Re: 24' Dredge

OK, I kinda got the idea. But a pic or diagraphm might be needed before I would try to put one together, any pics of one somewhere? From what I'm thinking i believe the bottom one would sand up pretty quick, unless that top piece to let it fall is like a small screen? .

Here is one that Oragonads built. Best I've seen

You have to scroll down the page to see the build......
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,400183.msg2854563.html#msg2854563

Why thank you goodyguy