My "new" rock dog!

[cudamark]

If you've hunted in the water or wet sand where there are a lot of rocks/cobble,shells,etc, you'll eventually damage your scoop. Even the best of scoops can be damaged by prying around an unseen rock. My Stealth 720i is no exception. I've had it repaired/replaced under warranty a couple of times. This 3rd time, I decided to repair and modify it myself to see if I could beef it up to handle heavy rock conditions. In the following photos, you'll see what it looked like before I repaired it, during the straightening phase, and after reinforcement. This might take several installments, depending on how many photos Tnet will allow in each post. Here's the first phase. You'll see that the bottom of the basket is dented in from having a rock in the wrong spot while prying. It happens, you just can't see buried rocks and the damage is done before you realize it. Also note that the leading edge of the scoop is starting to split. That also happened the last time it was sent in for welding. That's pretty common for most scoops as that area gets worn and thin after so many scoops and drags in the sand.

 

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[cudamark]

Here is the method I used to straighten the basket. I used half of an adjustable spring shackle as a heavy brace and bolted and shimmed with washers as necessary to pull everything back where it belonged. Also a couiple of "after" shots to show that it got reasonably straight, at least enough for my purposes.

 

[cudamark]

Here's the final (i hope) result. Welded a couple of plates on the bottom to stiffen that area and prevent the scoop from denting easily. It did add a bit of weight, but, I think I can still handle it. I'll post updates once I get it in operation. The cost wasn't any more than it would have cost me to ship it back to Sunspot to get it repaired, so, I figured this was a better plan in the long run and maybe will delay or eliminate the need for future repairs in that area. Maybe Sunspot (hint, hint) will come out with something similar for those of us hunting in very rocky areas. Even having a version without the holes along the "keel" would help strengthen the bottom and maybe avoid the damage. I don't think it will effect the sifting properties to any great extent. When you have wet sand in there, It's mostly dumping the whole slug out anyway and not much in the way of sifting. It might even help when it comes to stud earrings from falling through. I'll let you know how it works out!

 

[Hydro Man]

Nice fix Cuda!
Looks tough as a Tiger Tank now!

 

[RustyGold]

Smart idea the way you pulled out the dent. Very cool!

 

[CASPER-2]