Joe,
You are going to love your sandshark. I have had several water machines, some vlf, some pi. I have a sandshark for the beach and a tigershark for fresh water. I really like the shark but out of the box it is too heavy to swing all day with the box mounted on the rod. Not terrible with the 8 inch coil, but you really want to go with the bigger 10 inch coil. That is one thing I really like about the Tesoro, besides the lifetime warrantee, is the ability to change coils. I had one 10 inch coil go bad in the salt water and instead of having to send in the whole unit I just sent in the coil. It was replaced with a new coil, no questions asked. In the meantime I just plugged in my spare coil and kept hunting.
Even with the 8 inch coil the unit can get heavy and tire you out too soon. You really need to hip mount your control unit. Someone here on TN had seen a photo of my Tesoro piranha in the hip mount configuration and had writen me to ask where I got the bag I had it mounted in. I will post the reply I sent him to give you and others some ideas. This isn't the only way to do it, but it sure works well for me.
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I have ran across two different pouches that you can use for the tiger shark for hip mount. I have both a Tiger and a Sand Shark and have them both hip mounted, like I did the piranha. When you pick up your pouch be sure to get a 2 inch nylon web belt.
To keep the pouch from sliding around on the belt I drilled holes through both the bag and belt and used a plastic 'zip tie' front and rear along the belt. Otherwise the pouch will slide around with the weight of the control unit.
I also got a nylon key chain holder with a plastic clip on it which I put around the belt in front of the control unit and pinned it down. This is to snap a lanyard into. The lanyard is hooked around the end of the arm cuff. Make it just shorter than the coil wire going to your control box. This way when you find a target and want to use both hands on the scoop you can just drop the shaft beside you and the weight will be on the lanyard instead of the coil wire. I usually give myself about 32 inches of coil wire from where it leaves the rod and goes to the control unit. Make the lanyard apx 28 inches. On the end of the lanyard is a stainless (or plastic) ring that you can snap into the key chain holder on your belt.
I still have the tags for the pouches I bought. This is the information on the togs: The pouch you saw in the photo is from builders supply if I remember right. It is a "McGuire-Nicholas" model #856-128. The tag also has #1DM-039P. The bar code # 19374 96253. It is called "Single Pocket Pouch".
The two that I have my other water units in are "AWP" "Poly Pouch" model # 263982. The bar code number is: 1937496226. I bought these at Lowes.
Go to your local builder supply company and go to the tool section. Look around at all the different pouches and belts they have. Nail pouches, ect. Some have more than one pocket, but I like the single pocket kind. With the belt you can also mount other pouches, cameras, ect. Be sure that all of this is nylon. Don't get leather because it will mold. You can purchase other nylon bags and pouches at wallmart to carry water, camera, ect.
You will have to cut holes in the bottom of the control box pouch. One for the coil connector and one to let the headphone cord hang down a ways so it won't kink. After you locate and cut the holes, shove the control unit down into the bag and thread the headphone wire down through the hole. Pull enough wire through the hole to let it hang kind of natural without a kink. Then it runs back up through the hole along side the control box and out the leading edge of the pouch. In other words, the headphone cable hangs down through the hole and makes a loop, then back up through the hole. If you don't make the holes too big the control unit sits just right in the bag. If you overdue the holes and make them too big the control unit will 'wallow' around a little and you may have to tie it into the bag somehow. I did great on one unit and got a little sloppy on the other so I use a long piece of Velcro to wrap around it to keep it tight in the bag.
Hope this helps you. Let me know how it works out for you. Ken Highwater
