Best detector(s) for wet salt sand ???

[Deep Seeker]

What's the best detector(s) for use in the wet salt sand? I'm in New England and expect to be detecting beaches mainly and want to include the area between high and low water. Thanks for sharing your experiences and any input you can offer.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

There are still variables you must list, to get an answer to your question. How mineralized are your beaches? You can tell the amount of mineral by the color of the sand. The darker the sand, the more mineralized it is. So for example, white sand would be the most-mineral free. Cinimon tan color would be moderate. Greyish dark would be getting tougher. Metalic grey/black (like what you'd see in gully washes) is really bad, etc.... So you must be specific on the type beach you're going to be working.

And are talking "the best" for depth, with no other qualifications? Because the knee-jerk reaction for that is: any of various beach pulse machines. I mean, heck, you could even get some of the pulse nugget machines, and get a nickel or gold ring to 1.5 ft. down! I've seen some guys do that, and believe me, they don't miss a thing, and double the depth of other guys out there! But naturally with pulse machines (especially a nugget machine), you will hear every single paper clip, nail, birdshot, staple, etc.... If you are on a beach riddled with nails and iron, you might end up hating life, and wishing you had a standard discriminator coin/jewelry machine, like an Excaliber, CZ6, XLT, or whatever. But of course the downsides of those are, they will not cut through the nastiest minerals (but do ok for all other wet salt beaches), will not go as deep, and will not find dainty little tinsel thin gold chains, etc....

For example: where I'm at, the minerals aren't un-bearable, so having a pulse, for purposes of punching through black-sand, is not an issue. We also have beaches that allow beach bonfires (which introduce nails via burned pallets) and various industrial history (wharves that have burned down, beach side industry, old dumps in the sand dunes that are now spilling out on to the beach after storms, etc...). So for those of us who strictly hunt after beach storm erosion, where depth is not an issue (mother nature puts everything into pockets/zones where speed is the name of the game), digging 20 nails to each conductive target can be a real downer. I've seen people try to use pulse machines after storm/swell erosion on our junky nail-riddled beaches, but they usually don't last long. Perhaps on touristy clean beaches, or beaches where nails are more spread out (allowing you to guess tones on a case-by-case basis) they would be more at-home?

So it all just depends on your goals, the trade-offs you are willing to live with, etc.... I use either the explorer or Excaliber, depending on if I'm going to be getting wet or not.

 

[SteveP (NH)]

I've only hunted beaches on the north shore of Mass and the NH beaches and they all have black (or purple as you get closer to plum island) sand so I have found it tough for any single frequency machines to work in the wet sand. Also given the large amount of lobster trap wire, and trash (can slaw, pull tabs, mystery bits of boat metal, etc) I haven't had a good experience with PI machines there either, for example last year I took a Headhunter PI unit out for several weeks in a row and dug up around 300 targets as part of my test for this machine. Of those 300 targets about 280 of them were trash.

It is my experience that you need to use a multifrequency machine to have a good chance at working the wet sand. I use a Minelab Explorer which works great at New England beaches. From seeing what other are swinging at the beaches I'd say that Minelabs (either Explorers, or Excals) are the most popular machines but there are a number of folks using multi-frequency Fishers (CZs) and Whites (DFX, Beach Hunters, and V3s) machines also.

If you stay in the dry sand then most any VLF works ok though given the amount of trash metal around I'd say that discrimination is an absolute necessity and target ID is sure a nice to have. (When you come across an entire lobster trap buried 2+ feet down it gives off a big enough signal to overwhelm the discrim on most machines.)

Also don't be too disappointed if you hunt the beaches in the winter. Once the ground freezes and get snow covered the beaches get hit really hard and there are no crowds of sunbathers replenishing the supply of good targets but the ocean is still washing in plenty of torn up lobster traps and boat debris.

Also make sure to dress extra warm. In winter there is almost always a stiff wind blowing and when the temps drop into the 20s or lower it can sure get cold quick if you are not prepared. I wear long johns, a sweat shirt, an arctic snow suit, a face mask and water proof boots with 2000 grams of thinsulite insulation and I still get frozen after 4 or 5 hours. Also here is a great tip - get ice fishing gloves, I use "ice armor" brand myself. They are waterproof and are made for gripping slippery fish so work great for detecting and target recovery in the cold salt water filled holes.

Its also a good idea to bring two sets of batteries. Batteries lose power as they get cold and after 3 hours or so in the cold your batteries might get so cold that your machines shuts down. If you keep the spare set in an inside pocket you can change them out and put the frozen batteries back in the pocket and when they thaw out a little they regain their charge, though they can be a little frosty when you first put them in your inside pocket.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Can't beat the Minelab Sovereign GT for the beach if your not going to go into the surf. Add the Coiltek WOT coil (15 inch) to the GT and you will have the best water machine for salt water sand, and the combination goes very deep. Use the standard 10 inch coil that comes with Sov GT and you will still have a fantastic machine for the salt water beach sand............... Sov GT will null on iron, and still tell you if there is a gold ring by that piece of iron. You will get a null for the iron followed by a tone for the gold.


Sovereign GT has 17 frequencies, the range of the Sovereign GT frequencies is from 1.5 kHz to 25.5 kHz in 1.5 kHz increments. All 17 frequencies are transmitted together at one time, operating simultaneously with multiple tone responses.

You will go deeper with a PI machine, but you will also be digging deep holes for every bobby pin, fish hook and nail in your path.


http://metaldetectorreviews.net/detectors/162-1-minelabsovereigngt.html


Good luck, stay safe and have fun.........

 

[21stTNCav]

My first machine down here was a Garrett 2500, and it falsed left and right. I still own it and use it up North away from the Ocean, but for $350 bucks I picked up a Soverign XS pro. Works like a top in the worst stuff down here near the mouth of the Rio Grande, and the mineralization down here is bad, bad, bad!! Mutiple freq is the way to go. Good luck.