Excalibur question

[castnet]

I just got my first Excal 1000. I would like to thank many members in this forum in helping me decide on which unit to buy for beach hunting. In surfing the net I also found pictures of a harness to help carry the detector weight (for us old guys). I went to Daytona Beach yesterday, I made a harness and it worked well, I searched for 3 hrs, sens on auto, found one dime two pennies and a silver earring. It was a good day. My question? Will using a Fl strait handle also help change the shallow surf current pressure against the coil? I look forward to enjoying a great hobby and my odds of finding treasure are infinitely better than the Florida lottery....

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Hello Castnet and welcome to TN

What city are you out of? I am in Orlando and I hunt Daytona fairly often, maybe we can meet ups sometime.

I would suggest you take the sense out of auto and move it to about the 11 oclock position, desc about 1-2 position, and see what happens. Were you hunting in the water, and if so in front or behind the sandbar or at water's edge.

I also have the Excal, I waist mount the unit and still use the Fla Straight shaft, It helps reach deeper in the trough behind the sandbars and in the holes.

I bought my harness and I will not use Excal with out it. It makes it so much easier to hunt and you can let go of the unit and it remains beside you.

Good luck.

 

[castnet]

Treasure_Hunter,

I live in Titusville, thanks for the invite to go detecting. I am basically a beginner and any day at Daytona is always a good day.

After reading this forum for hours this morning I went out in the backyard and practiced with the sense set to about 11:00 - BIG DIFFERENCE- Lookin forward to the beach again.

I am awaiting a Tiger Shark for my wife, ordered it from Tony, however the weather must be damn near perfect for her to want to go detecting, it must be a city girl thing. I will go ahead and order a Fla strait shaft for me, sounds like it will work..

When you waist mount using a harness do you have any problems with the cables when you let go of the unit? Do you secure them somehow?

Thanks for the help....

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Castnet,

I waist mount it most times, and with my harness it is supported by the bungie and little or no stress is on the cables. I so have the cables with fair size loop and a tie-wrap to keep any stress from pulling on the connector if something happens. I am going to put the cables in that wrap conduit to help protect it even more.

I plan on hunting Daytona this weekend, most likely one of the night lowtides as there are less people, easier to work patterns and no sunburns. Only bad part of night hunting is the lack of eye candy.

 

[spez401]

I have mine set up 2 separate ways. first (the most use) is with the "travel balanced shaft" (pic attached) which I got from www.proscoops.com. It seems to get the most use because it breaks down realllly small and is easy to travel with. I can strap it to the outside of a backpack and forget that it is there.

I also use a balanced extension from anderson?. It is an approximately 18" extention that attaches to the back of the stock rod. The box and battery are then attached onto the extension. Helps with the weight and balances the machine a bit more. My only problem is... it makes the machine look huge. (It's taller than me when I'm standing next to it )

I make 2 reccomendations with the excal. First is a new shaft... Second is even though most of us run these machines the same, grab a book on advanced techniques for the excal. There are several around (Do a quick ebay search). The knowledge I gained on how the machine works has helped me fine tune the detector to get the most performance out of it.

steve

 

[castnet]

Treasure_Hunter,

Saturday night low tide is about 11:30 pm. I hadn't really thought about hunting at night, I see both good and bad reasons to do it, I'm up for Saturday night, have to work on Monday.... Would we start before low tide Yesterdays low tide was not very far out with the strong onshore winds...

Thanks,
Dutch

 

[Sandman]

Hello Castnet,
Treasure_Hunter is right on the 11 o'clock sensitivity being better. Most run it way to high to do much good in helping to id the sounds.

I suppend mine from around my neck and run the wire down the shaft from the handle to the coil along the side of the shaft to give you more cable and make a smaller shaft for better water resistance. The controls and battery pak are bolted to a 11 inch piece of PCV tubing with a neck strap. I secure the end of the shaft to my belt with a bungee cord so I can let go of it and it is right there for me to grab again. The cord is long enough this way that no stress is placed on it. The only disadvantage to a hip mount is the extra cord can get in the way when you put it in the trunk at the end of a day and slam the lid on the wire. I won't do that again......

I tried the straight shaft with the controls near the elbow, but thought the wight was still on the arm, hence the chest mounting. I do like the straight shaft as it is a little longer and the arm strap helps with control in the surf.

Good Luck,
Sandman

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Sand Man the only reason I am right on the setting is because it was you who recommended it to me.

SM is right about the weight still there, that is why i waist mount it. I still use and like the straight shaft for the reach ability.

SM if you got a pic of your setup I would like to see it to see if chest mounting is good for me. I make sure I got all cables in before I close doors, but I also use a mini van and there is plenty of room.

 

[ronald99]

When you guys set the dis at 1-2 position,On mine the dial looks like it is on number 1,when the dial is turned all the way to left,are you guys talking about that or putting it like a clock setting where 1 or 2 would be.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

1-2 position on the left side of dial. (about 7 to 8 oclock position on a clock).

Dutch, I will call you.

 

[ronald99]

Thank you.

 

[Sandman]

Treasure_Hunter, I don't have a recent pic of the harness I use for the Excal neck mount. But here is a pic of my first neck rig. I used a short section of wood that fit between the ears of the control box and just drilled holes. I jury rigged nylon weed whacker cord for the neck strap to attach too and that was it. The PCV pipe just looks nicer.