in 15/20 foot of water for houseboat treasure

[ranger ricky]

is there a inexspensive system (under 300/500$) to vacum up lost small items, rings etc, from under local dock where house boats are tied, depth no more than 20 ft. closer to 12/15 ft.

 

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[1320]

Homemade airlift pump, gold miners dredge, rent a trash pump.? Not many things outside of this will help.? Dredges are expensive and hard to locate as rental units in most areas.? You can rent a trash pump for about $75 a day but they weight about 150 pounds.? If you're into making stuff, an airlift pump is the cheapest way to go but it would be hard to get up underneath the docks unless you want to dive with it.? If you rent a trash pump, make sure it is capable of 20 feet or more of "suction head".? Keep in mind that a trash pump will only pass solids that are half the diameter of the intake/discharge lines.....i.e., 3 inch lines will only pass a 1.5 inch solid.? Water must continually pass thru a trash pump, not to keep it primed but to keep the solids "flowing", so you won't be able to just drop the intake into the muck and expect results.?

Keep us informed of your progress, this is an interesting area of discussion.

Check out the topic "Shipwreck sand moving tools" under Shipwrecks on this site............good stuff.

 

[ranger ricky]

a co worker lost her ring off her docked hoseboat and ask me to dive for it, shallow enough maybe 15 foot but i dont care for such diving by myself around these docks, to much can go wrong with old snags, but she had it pinpointed as to where you saw it go into the water the dock ownner told me in the past no divers had much luck because of the low growing alge like moss. her exspensive karat plus ring landed on about an 18 inch circle of pea gravel in plain view felt she and i both got lucky ... just thinking outloud a vaccum system in this alge muck would make up for the zero visability .....at the same time i dont want to have to be in the water to use the system

after talking with several housboat ownners they suggest i take my md and go to the areas they use during the season, since the water is lower now and id have 20 foot plus of bank where they played in the water, so maybe i can search some inland beach like ground, sure going to miss good ole tree roots chopping

 

[1320]

A trash pump may damage the ring if you were fornuate enough to snag it since it would be passing thru with other solids, not to mention passing thru the pump itself. I think an airlift pump is the way to go. Doesn't sound like you'd be too concerned with getting underneath the docks....

 

[Dinkydick]

I have a method that I have used to find lost rings laying in the mud underneath moored boats.

If you are interested just send me a PM and I will try to explain my technique.

Dinkydick

 

[Mark -- The Penny King]

If you rent a trash pump, make sure it is capable of 20 feet or more of "suction head".

The primary consideration for suction head is the vertical distance from the water's surface to the pump inlet. The water depth really doesn't matter. If the end of the discharge line is submerged in the same body of water, the net suction head is virtually zero once the system is fully primed. When pulling items from say, 100 feet, some additional suction head is required to maintain flow rates through the resistance of the long hose.

 

[njcommercialdiver]

dont use the trashpump as a vacuum,use it as a water pump, then you dont have to worry about messing up anything you find. use an airlift with the water hose instead of air, It moves rock, mud, and anything else up the pipe and away from the diver. If you want some pics, I can send some to you. You can put a small sifter box where the hyrdolift emptys out to eliminate any items that might not be seen