Beach Cleaning Machines !

salty dog · Jul 6, 2008

Hi all,
Would anyone know how deep the beach cleaning machines clean and how fine of a screen they have?
I'm planning on going to the Mississippi Gulf coast beach with another TN'er (Red Bronco) early Monday morning for a day or mting. We figure there should have been a lot of deposits over the long weekend.
Was just wondering about the beach cleaning machines.
Thanks

HalfSpeed · Jul 6, 2008

Hey SaltyDog... I've detected from Port St. Louis to Gulfport a few monthes ago. All beaches had fresh tracks of the cleaning machine. We found lots of clad, bottle caps, tabs 3-4 inches deep so I don't think it does much but rake up surface trash. Not fact, just opinion :tongue3:

Have a great time!

Dirt Fishin Dale · Jul 6, 2008

From what I have read on these machines, it depends on how deep they adjust them on how fast they can go. Most places only collect the surface trash, so they keep them real shallow. That’s a good thing for us. So the deeper they clean the longer and more fuel it takes. With fuel prices going up and up they will just be skimming the surface.

Dale

Foilman · Jul 6, 2008

I am no expert on these but, I think it depends on the machine and the way they are set. In general smaller stuff will not be picked up. On dirty beaches if they were set to fine they would have tons and tons of stuff to deal with. They are more for leveling and getting the bigger stuff like plastic bags, cans, bottles.
IMO, they can help you and they can hurt you. I think the weight of the equipment pushes stuff deeper but it also can bring it closer to the surface. Some people have said the big necklaces can get caught up in them. For the most part I know around here they are not going very deep at all, maybe 2-4 inches. The reason I know is all the beer and soda cans are still there down 5-7 inches. Also I went right behind a machine and have found coins and rings. One time I got a 8 oz. fishing weight right after the machine went by and it was only barely covered up. For fresh drops I think its better before they go through, but I worry a lot more about other metal detectors than I do rakes. Good luck!

JP · Jul 6, 2008

I would say it is pretty much like Foilman says.

I have been recently at the beach following where the machine had passed and even found coins on the surface ( within 1/2 inch of the surface).

From what i witnessed the machines seem to only pic up large objects; from soda can size up. I still saw tobacco cans and cigarette packs on the surface. I was there yesterday (July 5th) and they were cleaning the mess up from the 4th of July. They were doing a great job considering that the beach looked like a dump (I can't believe that people would leave that much garbage at the beach or anywhere). I didn't find much on the beach because it had been hit all night by metal detectors. When Cotton and I hit the water it was another story. The tide had gone out and plenty of targets for everyone in the water.

salty dog · Jul 6, 2008

Thanks everyone,
I feel pretty confident about our trip now. I'll post what we find.

Mat in MA · Jul 6, 2008

It all depends on the type machine used at a particular beach.

There are two basic machines. The most common is the beach rake which picks up the larger items like soda cans, plastic bags, etc. Most beaches use this type.

Then there is the screen type. The operator sets the depth the blade is to dig into the sand, then all the sand is deposited on a conveyor belt which drops it onto a screen. The screen hole size is also determined by the operator. It can be set small enough so that a dime won't go through it, but the sand falls through. This type of machine costs much more and works slower.

salty dog · Jul 6, 2008

Thanks Mat in MA,
If I get close enough to one of the machines I'm going to see which one it is. Hopefully it will have the big screen.

longsocks · Jul 6, 2008

I live on lake Michigan, from what i have seen in my own city they have a beach rake which uses about 6 inch tines that go into the sand it can get cigarette butts and things like gull feathers paper cans .. then i have gone down the shore to one of the other cities and they use a machine with a belt to a screen .. i have found items even tho the machines have gone thru the sand but has often wondered about gold chains watches and bracelets if they get caught up in it or not...would be cool to hear from a guy that drives one of those things and get his personal take on it

salty dog · Jul 6, 2008

Yes longsocks,
It would be good to talk to one of those guys just to see what all they find. If anyone gets to talk to them they should post what the guy says about it.

gravediggermax-vabeachva · Jul 6, 2008

here is what they use here - barber surf rake

it does not go very deep and gets mostly surface trash
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txkickergirl · Jul 6, 2008

i saw on the news the sceen type they use here and all the goodies that they collect from it. Yep it had trash, but it also had a few rings, lots of coins, sunglasses, and watches. They said they sell the good stuff and it goes into a fund to keep the beach up..yeah right! I don't know how deep it goes, but I know you need to get there before 6am cause the machine is there by 7am at our beach anyway.

LS hunter · Jul 6, 2008

txkickergirl said:
i saw on the news the sceen type they use here and all the goodies that they collect from it. Yep it had trash, but it also had a few rings, lots of coins, sunglasses, and watches. They said they sell the good stuff and it goes into a fund to keep the beach up..yeah right! I don't know how deep it goes, but I know you need to get there before 6am cause the machine is there by 7am at our beach anyway.

I WAS TOLD THAT IT ONLY GETS ABOUT 1/2 TO INCH OFF OF THE TOP.SO ANYTHING THAT WAS LOST THAT DAY THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE IT WILL BE PICKED UP!!!!!!!THE GUY I TALK TO TOLD ME THAT YES THEY DO FIND RINGS AND STUFF,AND THEY KEEP IT FOR THERE SELFS!!!!BUT HE ADDED

?THAT HE DOES NOT FIND MUCH!!!!!!!

ScrewcapRoy · Jul 7, 2008

Matt in MA has it right there are two different types. However, since the rake is less expensive I find that most cities and towns use this machine. This past weekend I got to the beach before the maintenance crew got there with the rake machine. Good thing I did as I found $15.00 in cash ( a 10 & 5) in among all of the trash. It scooped up all of the cans, foil drink containes and larger papers. I was able to go over the cleared sand and came away with about 6.55 in clad. So don't let them bother you, just go and detect as the heavier stuff goes below their level.

HH,
Roy

TheSleeper · Jul 7, 2008

From personel exp, 17- 18 years ago the beaches were great. Think it was 9-10 years ago they started sweeping the beach. My finds dropped overnite once the sweepers started. The areas i hunted used the screen type. At that time all i hunted was the dry sand areas, it was not unusal to find 1-2 golds plus severial silver rings per day. Necklaces i had a shoe box full of them. I actually even started a business, BeachFind so i could legitimize all my finds tax wise.
I still remember to this day the first nite i saw them, (it was actually the second nite they swept) it was 2:45 am bout 1/2 a mile down the beach i saw headlights slowly coming my way, i thought it was a police vehicle til it got closer. When it finally got to me i flagged the guy down and we chatted for a bit. I asked where they dumped there loads and if i could come and search the piles and was told no.
Alot of people do not believe me, which is fine everyone has there own right to believe or not, but i now do not hunt the dry beaches unless it is an area not screened. Most my time is spent in the water.
I use to make a very good living just from the beaches, now it is alot harder many more hours spent to gain 1/3 of what i use to find. Plus now there are alot more beach hunters so that also dropped my finds.
From what i have seen most sweepers (don`t know about the rake type) set the sweeper to between 2 - 3 inches, which is exactly where most daily drops are. I have personelly seen a sweeper go by and saw a silver chain cought up in the trash and debre in the sweeper.
Some areas have a dump site where all the baskets are dumped at a secluded or lightly used area, those you can hunt to your hearts delight, other areas take there loads to an off limit site usually a beach maintance site and will not allow anyone to go over the dumps.

Sandpiper · Jul 8, 2008

My two Cents; yes there are two types of cleaners, the rake and the sifter. The sifter has an interchangeable screen, which the smallest is 3/8" which is plenty small enough to catch any ring. The only drawback to this smaller wire size is it has to be very dry sand only and used at a slower pull speed. The rakes are pulled much faster, and can be used in the wet sand also. The tangs on the racks are 8" at the longest. The beach here they used the rake most of the time but also at times used the screen to removed the shell, rocks, beer tabs, cig butts, and etc. otherwise it would be one crappy beach, people are pigs. We need the beach cleaning machines. Most likely not be able to even hunt the beach with a detector without them there would be so much filth.
I will try and get a few pictures up close of the machine as I look at them from time to time, also a picture of the beach at ends day - trashed, and after being raked. Thank you Mr. Beach Rake even though you just took my find.

MikeDahms · Jul 8, 2008

My wife knew the wife of a man who operated a beach sweeper in Hawaii on Oahu. This was a job for for college students not for grown men with a wife and kids. The machine was a large round brush about 6 ft wide that threw the sand and other items into a screen basket just behind the rotating brush. Well this man was looked down on by his wife's family. His family blamed "her" for making him get a "terrible" job of beach cleaning. Well, this guy ran the tractor in first gear"moving slowly" with high rpms and the machine lowered as far down as it would go. He would take the "trash" and put it into his truck and take it home. In his back yard he, his wife and kids would divide the "trash" in to piles, Al, lead, glass, clad, silver, gold. He also collected beach towels, beach mats, snorkel equipment and sold it at the flea market every few months In the early 1980's these two "stupid" people bought and paid cash for a small 3-4 acre farm with house on Oahu. Today that place is worth perhaps millions. I met the man's son and he confirmed all that my wife had told me. So if you can get to know one of these operators maybe they are a little lazy and you can help them out by disposing of the "trash" Best to all, Mike

Mike Silver -gold · Jul 29, 2008

I talked to the operator of a beach cleaner in Canada. I asked him who get to go through the stuff he picks up. He said are you nuts. Take a look and smell of that stuff. He was right,it was loaded with dead fish and dirty piapers. Yuck. :tard: