The rakes are coming!

[Dirt Fishin Dale]

Well it looks like the rakes are coming to Cocoa Beach next month.
They say they pick up Broken glass, plastic, syringes, cigarette butts, pop-tops, straws, cans, tar balls, stones 3/8" to 6" in diameter, sea grass, seaweed, fish, and small pieces of wood.
That doesn’t sound to good to me.

Guess we will see how it affects the dry sand hunting.
Just glad I have my excal. For the water hunting.

 

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[jeff of pa]

And Don't forget Gold & Silver Chains.

You should see if you can root their rake & Trash after

 

[ronald99]

So what,

I have been hitting Cocoa Beach all week, even the bottle cap's are few.

I have been detecting at night and so far on cocoa beach i found a watch that still works, and a street sign buired under 2 feet of sand at the low tide line.

My detector was going crazy and i was digging and what a suprise find, A one way parking sign.

It took me 20 minutes to uncover that sign and pull it 500 feet towards the parking lot so no one would get hurt playing or surfing,

Some time's us metal detectorist do help out.

I cant past judgement on the rake yet untill i see how the beack looks after they rake it, Spring break is in march and they want to rake the beach the same time,

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Can it get any worse...

County Begins Emergency Beach Renourishment

Tues., Feb. 19, 2008
Relief has arrived for storm-battered beachside homeowners in Brevard County. The county is restoring beaches where the ocean is threatening to take over beach-front homes.

Many areas in Brevard County would not make it through another hurricane season if beach renourishment does not happen immediately.

Homes and businesses in Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, and Melbourne Beach are critically endangered. As a result, Brevard County has agreed to spend $2 million to create beach dunes.

The beach is currently being stabilized so big trucks and bulldozers can get in to bring in sand.

"We're going to dump about 200 loads a day, probably about somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or 50 thousand yards of sand on the beach," Jim Taylor of CKA Associates said.

Storms in October and November eroded away so much of the dune that repairs cannot wait another year. They also cannot wait for the federal government to pitch in, which it usually does with these projects.

"We are finally getting some relief," homeowner Ivodean Spell said.

Workers will be rebuilding the dunes, but not widening the beach. Widening would be more effective but the process is too costly and time-consuming right now.

The dunes are the last line of defense for homeowners like George Hartman.

"If you can keep the dunes from collapsing, once they start collapsing, once it gets too far in, it causes those dunes to collapse, then the structures are in peril," Hartman said.

The repairs must be completed by May 1, which is the beginning of sea turtle nesting season.

 

[Dirt Fishin Dale]

Here is the link to the rake they will be using.
http://www.hbarber.com/Cleaners/SurfRake/Specifications.aspx

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I don't think it is going to affect us that much. Most stuff I find in the dry sand is deep, and even deeper in the wetsand. It will pick up all the trash I have been removing and if anything make it a little easier to hunt....How many of us have dug up beer cans in the dry sand the slobs left?

I would find out when they start the sweep for the day then beat them to it. I primarily hunt wet sand and surf myself............

Good luck and good hunting............

 

[TreasurdiggrNY]

I was going to say the same thing Treasure_Hunter said.

I read those beach cleaners can be expensive to run and some towns only run them once a week. Find out what day and beat them to the punch.

Glenn

 

[FLauthor]

They will probably set the machines to sift at 1 inch to clean off the surface trash. The deeper the machine is set, the slower the tractor pulls and the longer to clean the beach and the more fuel it burns. So they will probably set it shallow so they can Zit-Zat the beach clean in a couple of hours. I bet the majority of coins and jewelry will settle deeper than they sift. Check with a operator and find out what they are setting them at.

 

[teklord]

Was hunting Cocoa yesterday ( $2.00 and a cell phone ) Ran into another local TH who I have met several times. He said the rakes were out early AM but not picking up trash, just breaking up the sand to make it easy for the turtles to dig their nests. Breaking up the hard pack has got to be good for us. Rings just disappear into the soft sand.

Tek

 

[ronald99]

The turtles are here next couple months.

most everything i find is below 3-5 inches, And cocoa beach gets alot of seaweed and trash lately,I have never found a chain there so im not going to be loosing out.

In four days i get to detect cocoa beach and other treasure coast hot spots.

 

[Dirt Fishin Dale]

Time will tell. I hope they rake shallow. I didn't see them out this past weekend.
I knew they were getting them this month. I have found some chains on Cocoa Beach but not many and mostly big silver ones.
Not sure on how they are going to handle using the rakes during turtle nesting season. I was talking to a park worker who said they ordered the extra wide wheels to disperse the weight so they could use them during that time. I don’t think so.

 

[wreckdiver1715]

I am already seeing turtles coming up on the beach to nest. Not allot, but a couple each day between Cocoa Beach and Melbourne Beach.

Tom

 

[rons1947]

I was detecting at Cocoa Beach a couple of weeks ago,when they first used the rake.My observation was that it stirred up the sand to about 6-8 inch depth,and left all the trash.It is meant to soften up the sand for the turtles to nest in,not to clean up the trash.I was stull finding coins in the areas that were raked.It didn't seem to be picking up anything.

 

[Dirt Fishin Dale]

Cocoa beach and Cape Canaveral bought the 600HD rakes for beach clean up.
I haven’t seen them yet and they might have something different for the nesting areas.
Here is a video of the rakes they bought. http://wms17.streamhoster.com/hbarber/Surf Rake.wmv

Also the article in Florida Today.


COCOA BEACH - The purchase of a mechanical beach-raking machine by Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral has been approved, with delivery expected next month.
It is expected to make its first clean sweep of both community beachfronts soon after that.
The machine is a 600HD Surf Rake made by the Barber and Sons Co. of Connecticut.
The cities had to choose from many other types of machines.
It is built to clean eight acres an hour, clearing a seven-foot- wide path with each pass and capable of holding 3,700 pounds in its hopper.
The $81,681 cost will be spilt between the two cities and the Tourist Development Board.
Included in the cost is a tractor designed to pull it.
The machine can handle all types of discarded material, especially hard-to-get cigarette butts. Those have been a particular concern in Cocoa Beach, where a move to ban smoking on beaches was rejected.
Since then, special trash cans and bags have been made available, but have made a minor dent in the problem.
Cape Canaveral Mayor Rocky Randels thanked Cocoa Beach leaders for leading the project.
Randels said another problem on the beaches is endangered sea turtles nesting in both areas.
This problem mainly includes the loggerheads that make their nesting site here from May to November, he said.
"However, it is my understanding that with the guidance and approval of the Department of Environmental Protection, we will be able to proceed cleaning all the sandy areas between the water and the dune lines, which is where most people sunbathe, and not where the turtles usually lay their eggs," Randels said.
He said the Space and Treasure coasts are home to many green turtles.
Randels said that beach cleaning was largely done by volunteers before.
The new machine will also scoop up dead fish washed ashore as a result of red tides or storms.

 

[rons1947]

This was not what I saw at Cocoa Beach,a few weeks ago.What I saw was what I think was like a farm rake,that just stirred up the soil.This Surf Rake may be a problem for us.Hopefully it will be used at a time that won't effect our detecting and finds too much.Time will tell.

 

[desertfox]

The beachs I have hunted in CA that use the rakes find out really fast that if they set them for more then 2 to 3 inches they bog down and don't do the job they really need to do. I hope the same happens for you guys down there in FL. HH

Desertfox