Treasure hunting on the beaches?

[Peg Leg]

I wonder if there is a Law that prevents ATV,s from going down beaches.
I designed a recovery machine to be used in Africa to recover diamonds and was thinking about a smaller version that can be pulled behind a ATV while being driven along the beaches.
It resembles a EUCLID Earth Mover but much smaller.
It does not dig holes. It scape's the sand onto a set of screens and puts the sand back where it came from but retains everything else. It can remove all the aluminum cans and pull tabs. It travels about as fast as a person can walk. The width is about 3 feet and the lenght is about 5 feet it goes a little over 2" into the sand.
It is similar to a small utility trailer and has rubber tires.
Just thinking of a way I can do a little beach hunting.
Hay I could use it to clean up some beach crap which would be good and maybe even recover a few artifacts at the same time -WOULD BE A GOOD SELLING POINT?
If I can get the idea across MAYBE I could use a larger version and CLEAN THE BEACH FOR FREE?
What do you think?
Peg leg

 

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[Peg Leg]

Cornelius,
Never thought of that.
YES I am really an enviormentalist to a point and I would NEVER say that I am THer.
I think that I will put this project on the board and see what happens MAYBE the State or counties will REWARD me in some fashion.
I will build a Proto type to show how it works to those at the right places.
YES my machine puts the sand back where it comes from.
Gonna start the design work TODAY.
Of course this does not effect any of my other projects.
Peg Leg

 

[capt_t]

Peg, just a thought on this, but I know some of the beaches go in with tractors, with blades to remove the kelp (see pict below) off the beach. So why couldnt you use this (kelp removal) to get out on the beach. I'm sure if you design it right, you could do both at the same time.

 

[Peg Leg]

Capt. T
Another GREAT idea.
I think that is would have to consist of 2 rigs with one behind the other. The first would pickup the kelp and the 2nd would scrape the sand.
It would be like farming the kelp but man it would take a very large rig to hold all the wet kelp judgeing from your photo which I might add tells a WHOLE STORY in itself. As the saying goes "A picture is worth a thousand words".
Is this photo copyrighted.
If you had a device similar to a hay bailer with a few changes this would be easy to pick up the kelp.
The device I designed for Sierra Leone consisted of a utility trailer with a scraper similar to a EUCLID Earth Mover but it had blades that dumped the sand onto a set of screens and the screens would vibrate dropping the sand back onto the beach but everything else was retained by the screens. Each screen was set at an angle so whatever it retained would vibrate off to the side and into a catch gutter. I had three people that would remove large objects by hand and throw them into a 55 gallon drum. Things like wood and large rocks. There were no trash items like beer bottle or cans or fire wood. There were no campers here.
I was able to cover 5 miles a day at 200 feet wide EVERY DAY -7 days a week .
The device worked great but when the Civil War started I lost everything but thats another story.
Go see the movie BLOOD DIAMONDS and you will see only part of the real thing.
Thanks
I need ideas.
Peg leg

 

[capt_t]

pegleg, thanks on the pict, no copywright on it, my son was having a bad morning so i took him to the beach to watch the sunrise and collect his thoughts...worked good i might add. blood diamonds comes out tuesday and plan on watching it then. as far as the beach collector it wouldnt be to hard to fab up something that would do both.
capt_t

 

[Skimmer]

Capt T.May I say. with all sincerity.good luck with your boy. A sunrise on the beach and a little man to man conversation is maybe the best therapy that anyone can do. God go with you.

 

[G.I.B.]

I would like to own/operate this machine along the west coast of Florida. I could sell my time to the county and city parks departments cleaning up for them. We don't want guests of the Beach's getting cut on broken glass, pieces of aluminum, and so forth. It is marketed purely as a service machine for cleaning the beach. I'll sort thru the collected debris quietly and out of sight...

When can I buy one?

Larry

 

[Peg Leg]

Capt-T,
I use to walk the beach after a rain to collect my thoughts-maybe I need to do it more often.
If you get the time I sure do need some help in putting the COLLECTOR on paper.
Any ideas sure would help from everybody
Thanks
Peg Leg

 

[Peg Leg]

Here is what I have come up with so far.
1. Tractor
2. Hay blades,
3. Aluminum container for the kelp,
4. Aluminum shaker for the sand,

PHASE 1.
The tractor will pull the round hay blades and put the kelp into wind rows.
The wind rows then can be collected and the kelp put into an aluminum container trailer for disposal.

Phase 2.
MOST IMPORTANT.
This device is designed similar to an Earth scrapper except on a much smaller scale.
This device is design to be adjustable as far as depth of the sand you want to collect.
It will have a stainless steel blade and a series of rubber paddle blades similar to a conveyor belt. The speed of this conveyor will be controlled by using the 5 hp power motor.. The conveyor will pickup the sand and dump the sand onto a series of screens. The screens will start at 2" opening, then to 1" and then to 1/2" and then to a 1/4". The screens will vibrate and the sand will drop back onto the beach minus anything larger than 1/4" in size. The screens will be set at an angle so whatever is retained by the screens will go into a holding gutter or container to be sorted at a later time and place.
This trailer or device will also be constructed from aluminum. The screens can be constructed from SS or expanded aluminum sheets but will have to be replaced often because they will wear easy.
You can expect to replace the aluminum screens once a month.
The 5 hp motor will also be used for the vibrator.
With this device you cannot operate in or near the water/surf. It is designed to be used on dry sand or as dry as possible.
I can see this device in operation but it is a little hard to explain.
Any thoughts on this lets hear them.
Thanks
Peg Leg

 

[capt_t]

pegleg, i will get back with you on that,,busy chasing skirts

 

[ScubaDude]

It sounds a lot like the ones that have been used on beaches for years for removing trash.

 

[Peg Leg]

I would sure like to see what they are using at the present time. At least I am thinking along the right lines.
Peg Leg

 

[NC_Bob]

Re: Treasure hunting on the beaches? - another slant

Last time I was up in Maine with a vehicle (ME is sort of where I work, but that's a different story) I bagged about 500 lbs seaweed and hauled it back to WNC [Western North Carolina ] to add to my compost piles. Good stuff. If you can make this idea fly (or at least plod along the beaches) you might be able to sell the seaweed to one of the organic garden products companies. Might even be worth more than the aluminum!

2c,

Bob.

 

[ScubaDude]

http://www.cleanbeach.com/beachking.htm

http://www.hbarber.com/Cleaners/Beach_Cleaning_Equipment.aspx

http://www.beach-trotters.com/ing/productos/limpia-playas.htm

 

[Peg Leg]

I really feel dumb.
I found over 27 companies that make Beach Cleaning equipment. Some of it is just what I was thinking about building. Sent an email to most asking about the price.
A few are self propelled but most require a 4x4 or a tractor.

NC_Bob
That is a GREAT idea about the kelp. I will dig deeper and check with the local nurseries.
Another industry my come from this project.
So far I find that the equipment does not go deep enough into the sand to collect EVERYTHING I want to collect but I think I have found a solution to this problem. The tires are 17's but if I reduced the tire size to 15 of 16 inches this would give the right depth. I could even go to 14 inches with a wider tread.
Can hardly wait till I get the prices on this equipment.
In fact 4 machines sanitizes the sand before it is put back.
I will start putting a Presentation together in the morning.

Capt _T
Do you mind if I use your photo?
Perfect for the cover sheet.
Later
Peg Leg

 

[Peg Leg]

NC Brad,
Thanks for the info.
I was checking these earlier tonight.
Like I said it really make me seem kind of dumb but what the H--l I WAS THINKING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
Of course there will have to be a little modification to seperat the trash from the goodies but I will figure this out with a little time-which I have plenty of right now.
Thanks again.
Peg leg

 

[capt_t]

pegleg, yes you can use the pict

 

[Peg Leg]

Capt-T
Thanks.

I talked with several of the Manufactures this morning and this was the prices they quoted me.
NOT a single towed beach cleaner was below $40,000.00 and that does not include the cost of the tractor or 4x4 and there was a high price for several that went up to $75,000.00.
This is what I have concluded.
I can construct a beach cleaning machine for under $15,000.00 minus the 4x4 or tractor.
My unit will consist of using a ALUMINUM type utility trailer..Price is about$2,500.00.
Rubber conveyer belt...................................................................... 500.00
Sand rake..............................................................................................250.00
Rubber rollers........................................................................................ 200.00
5 hp gas motor.......................................................................................300.00
Aluminum screens...................................................................................500.00
Gear drive vibrator..................................................................................300.00
Trash container...................................................................................... 800.00
Tractor or 4x4 unknown but estimate no more than $10,000.00.

It will take a lot of aluminum sheeting to construct but I can purchase the sheeting from the FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION scrap road signs-the large signs that you see on the Interstates that are 4 X 8 FOOT SHEETS. I also have several friends that are Certified Welders.

This piece of equipment can be hand lowered to 6" into the sand or whatever the puller can pull.
The only problem I see is how to seperate the kelp from everything else unless I do it by hand- have someone else do this.
What do you think?
Peg Leg

 

[Voldbjerg]

The only problem I see is how to separate the kelp from everything else unless I do it by hand- have someone else do this.
What do you think?

Hi Peg Leg

I don't think the kelp will be a problem to separate. Just rake it. The problem of separation would be the tons of trash, pepples and seashells and so forth. Separating that stuff will be quite a task. This is where you should focus your inventive mind.

Good luck

V

 

[Chagy]

Peg,

with dose prices you are better off just getting a job with the state operating one of those machines in the Treasure Coast beaches or just find out where they dump the trash at the end of the day and look trough it.

All the best,

Chagy.......