Dahlke 2.5" vs Keene 2.5"

[Zachary]

I am looking at purchasing a 2.5" dredge and have been going back and fourth between Dahlke and Keene. I am leaning towards Dahlke because of the compact size, light weight, and price, but I am worried about it's stability in faster moving water due to its shape and lack of pontoons. Any experience or input would be greatly appreciated.

 

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[wildminer]

I would also look at Proline.

 

[CGC Miner]

Those are both very small dredges that will not be able to handle big or fast water.
Both will work equally well in small calm streams or slow bigger rivers hugging the bank.

I've been impressed with the dahlke 4" though don't own one. Very compact, few pieces to carry and the goofy looking box n riffles seems to outperform many other dredges of the same size on similar ground.

Do you highbank? Maybe a 3" highbanker combo would be a good choice. a 3" dredge will process roughly double that of a 2.5".

I personally run a 3" combo, 4" proline and 6"keene dredge

 

[N-Lionberger]

I have never played with a Dahlke though I have eyeballed the hell out of them I'm not a fan of the one piece construction, the pumps are pretty cool looking and I like the dovetail riffles, a concept I would like to play with in my 4". My experience of Prolines aren't super great, they are hard to take down and pack into the backwoods, they are pricey and I don't have faith in their sluices we tried placing a letrap sluice behind one and it caught pickers! My 2.5" keene which is old as the hills floated on an innertube, I have also played with my buddies newer 2.5" keene with pontoons out on the N Yuba river it handled choppy water fairly well, somtimes in moving from spot to spot through rapids the pontoons would nose dive and it would try to submarine the dredge. 2.5" dredges work best as highbanker combos, bucket feed the hopper until you reach bedrock then hook up a nozzle and clean it all up, its downright easy to out shovel the 2.5". Unless you are really paying attention to the nozzle its super easy to plug up the hose. When I made the upgrade to my also old as the hills 4" keene I was mad at myself for wasting so much time with the 2.5" it gets through the overburden a lot faster as you dont have to pick up and throw nearly as many small cobbles. This year I'm going to run my new to me 6" subsurface dredge under my 4" to blast through the overburden, then switch to the 4" surface dredge when I get into that good sticky rusty red stuff.

 

[seafox]

the 3 does almost twice as much as the 2.5 unquote ? I have just tried 1.5 and 2 inch suction dredge nozzels. if 3 does almost twice 2.5 then the 1.5 was nothintg but a toy? what kind of pump power does the three inch need? and what is the width of the sluice? thankyou for and sorry for such basic questions

 

[cobill]

I have a 4" Dahlke poly dredge and the small DP 150 (150 GPM) pump with 1 1/2" hose does not produce enough suction, compared to the Keene 300 GPM & Proline 400 GPM with 2" pressure hoses. It does not do well in any current and you can easily overload the dredge flotation with hoses and equipment, while moving it to your area...mine started sinking! I also have a Keene 2 1/2" with a 4 HP Honda and that dredge does extremely well, can handle the equipment load and has plenty of flotation. Do lots of research.

 

[jsurddy]

Dahlke 2.5" vs Keene 2.5"

what kind of pump power does the three inch need? and what is the width of the sluice? thankyou for and sorry for such basic questions

3” dredges tend to use a 3-4 horse engine and a 14” wide sluice is pretty standard. I made a 16” wide sluice for my home made 3” dredge. It works, but is a little large. I was using a 10” wide sluice before and it caught a lot of gold, but i’m pretty confident that i lost a lot of smaller stuff. Pump selection is probably going to vary between a 1.25” and 1.5” output.

 

[jsurddy]

3” dredges tend to use a 3-4 horse engine and a 14” wide sluice is pretty standard. I made a 16” wide sluice for my home made 3” dredge. It works, but is a little large. I was using a 10” wide sluice before and it caught a lot of gold, but i’m pretty confident that i lost a lot of smaller stuff. Pump selection is probably going to vary between a 1.25” and 1.5” output.

I should add to my last comment that those pump sizes are for high pressure pumps made for dredges.

 

[MosesOfTheSouth]

i bought a dalhke 2.5 as my first and only dredge. not long after i got it, Tennessee changed the rules and made dredging a lot more difficult.

i really enjoyed it though. i hiked that thing in and out of some very remote areas in the national forest (not always with ease when there are no trails, and a near vertical climb out).

some of the other guys that i occasionally prospected with commented on how impressive the suction on it was for a dredge of its size.

personally it was very easy to set it up and break down, and i thought the design was great. caught a lot of gold including those little flour pieces. before i bought it spent days of research reading reviews and threads about all kinds of dredges.

i'm glad it was the one i ended up with.

 

[N-Lionberger]

California changed the rules too but it didn't stop miners in those remote hard to access canyons.

 

[principedeleon]

I would build a sub dredge with that pump and move a 4" suitcase dredge like Trevs. .

Those are my new plans for lightest up to size dredge capable of being a perfect sampling machine.

Good luck. !

 

[principedeleon]

I have a 4" Dahlke poly dredge and the small DP 150 (150 GPM) pump with 1 1/2" hose does not produce enough suction, compared to the Keene 300 GPM & Proline 400 GPM with 2" pressure hoses. It does not do well in any current and you can easily overload the dredge flotation with hoses and equipment, while moving it to your area...mine started sinking! I also have a Keene 2 1/2" with a 4 HP Honda and that dredge does extremely well, can handle the equipment load and has plenty of flotation. Do lots of research.

I would build a sub dredge with that pump and move a 4" suitcase dredge like Trevs. .

Those are my new plans for lightest up to size dredge capable of being a perfect sampling machine.

I have made the 6" version with a p180 pump and i run @ 1/2 to 3/4 throttle.

I could never see myself going back to surface dredge just because fuel consumption and all the extra ++ weight.

Good luck. !

 

[N-Lionberger]

I'm planning on running a 6" sub dredge in conjunction with my 4" surface dredge this year, see how that goes.