2021....

[Redfin]

So who is the other Moneybox

 

[Moneybox]

Bad Duplicity

Yes now that I'm watching the video I understand. We dropped that pathtag on our return from a birthday party in Coolgardie late last year.

 

[Dawsy77]

Hi Moneybox, how did the drag set up like that?
I have been thinking of a similar set-up but with the poly mounted under the coil as skids! I have a couple of large open areas I would like to cover. Chuck the SDC in for the dig side of things.

 

[Moneybox]

Hi Moneybox, how did the drag set up like that?
I have been thinking of a similar set-up but with the poly mounted under the coil as skids! I have a couple of large open areas I would like to cover. Chuck the SDC in for the dig side of things.

There are 4 pieces of poly pipe. Two short ones of a little larger diameter that run under the coil and two long ones that are through the end 100mm of the skid ones. It moves across the ground without leaving a mark so when I returned to find my targets there was no sign of the track I'd taken. I've not had the chance to use it again but I've messaged Coiltek to identify it and they replied with settings for the GPX4500. I have a friend using the same and he sent me his settings that are almost identical to those received from Coiltek. It should work well once I attach a centre pole that will support the control box. I need to be far enough away to be able to keep out of it's detection range with whatever I'm carrying. I have leases here where I could run it behind the quad but the only advantage there is it makes carrying a second detector, pick, shovel etc a lot easier.

It's absolutely no trouble to drag by hand and much easier to avoid obstacles than it would be on the quad. I will most likely fill in the bottom with a sheet of 3mm HDPE that I have already. I'll see what time I get to work on it before heading north in my quest for more gold.

I might have a quick trip to Perth later in the week to deliver a 4WD camper to Broome. That's 3000km all up and I only have a few days to do it.

 

[wiley coyote]

I sit my drag coil on a sheet of core flute, nylon bolted to a 100mm poly pipe across the front. the poly pipe acts like the front of the runners on a sled, smoothly sliding over any obstacles. It's got a rope tied to each side of the poly pipe, which I clip onto a grid chain ring fitted to the belt loop on top of the battery pack, GPX4500. I carry the detector box on a belt looped around my neck. Looks really basic, super light. the coreflute lasts well. wylie.

 

[Moneybox]

I sit my drag coil on a sheet of core flute, nylon bolted to a 100mm poly pipe across the front. the poly pipe acts like the front of the runners on a sled, smoothly sliding over any obstacles. It's got a rope tied to each side of the poly pipe, which I clip onto a grid chain ring fitted to the belt loop on top of the battery pack, GPX4500. I carry the detector box on a belt looped around my neck. Looks really basic, super light. the coreflute lasts well. wylie.

Thanks wylie, I'll do something like that because in it's current configuration the front of the coil is exposed to all obstacles and the coil will catch web will catch on everything.

 

[wiley coyote]

G'day Moneybox. I forgot to mention. The coreflute sheet is bolted onto the top of the poly pipe, giving it a 100mm upsweep, like a sled. The rocks etc. go under the poly, but the upsweep causes the coreflute to slide over them. To hold the coil on the sheet, I got a large plastic chain from Bunnings and cut about 8 links off it. Split each link. Drill holes where you want the coil secured on the sheet, then feed one link into each hole. Cut up an old truck tyre tube,( I know you'll have heaps of them lying around!) into long strips to use as rubber bands and tie them to the links .Holds the coil good. All ugly, but very efficient. wiley.

 

[Moneybox]

G'day Moneybox. I forgot to mention. The coreflute sheet is bolted onto the top of the poly pipe, giving it a 100mm upsweep, like a sled. The rocks etc. go under the poly, but the upsweep causes the coreflute to slide over them. To hold the coil on the sheet, I got a large plastic chain from Bunnings and cut about 8 links off it. Split each link. Drill holes where you want the coil secured on the sheet, then feed one link into each hole. Cut up an old truck tyre tube,( I know you'll have heaps of them lying around!) into long strips to use as rubber bands and tie them to the links .Holds the coil good. All ugly, but very efficient. wiley.

Sounds good. I have some 3mm HDPE so I'll use that instead of the coreflute. I also have some 100mm poly pipe that I picked up at some point. It will have to wait until I've been for a very long drive. I'm heading for Perth in the truck then driving a Hilux camper to Broome before flying back to Perth for the drive home. Something over 3500km in a few days.

 

[Moneybox]

Sorry all, it's been a while but I can't type while swinging :lol:

Mrs M stayed home this trip. She got a local job working in the Cue Resource Centre (CRC) and is really enjoying it but if all goes to plan she'll take time out for a quick trip up to Arnhem Land next month.

I went with my brother Merv but we took both vehicles because he only had three weeks before he had to rush back to Busselton and pack for their trip north where we'll meet up again. This photo might look like a sunset but it's what we woke up to after our first night in camp.

I set up the drag coil before we left. I had a few places in mind to go looking for large deep nuggets but there's a lot of grass and bush this year so it was difficult to get to the ground.

We're not allowed to use motorised equipment so it was all dragging by hand. I walked up to 3km at a time but turned up nothing but bullets and cans.

I guess I should make mention of the performance of the GPX6000. It works, it loves lead, but it finds gold. This is a typical morning detecting with this machine. If I was swinging the GPX4500 it would have ignored most of these pieces of lead as well as the tiny nuggets. The difference is that instead of spending hours digging tiny targets I would usually walk on seeking larger gold that the GPX4500 finds so well. It's not that the GPX6000 can't find big gold, I think it could but who can walk over a target and say "That's too small" and keep on walking. You hear a target so you have to dig it but that just means a day spent on finding a lot of very small targets and missing the opportunity to find the bigger gold.

Some of this terrain is quite difficult to find gold in too. When you attempt to dig a nugget out it just ends up in another crevice that prolongs the process and because the GPX6000 finds those little bits that have been left behind it makes it a tiresome task. The earphones work well as long as the wind isn't up. They are terrible in the wind emphasising the wind noise. I ended up covering them with the legionnaires cap with a safety pin holding the front of the sides together. It was difficult to fit and remove but it worked. The 11" mono coil is good (mine's not) but the DD is as I've stated before is only half good. The right hand side is near useless on any small target.

 

[Mackka]

Good report mate and welcome back.
Mackka

 

[Moneybox]

I'm busy working on the bus so that we can take off in the first week of September. I don't know how it's all going to go because we're heading for the NT for my son's 40th up in Arnhem Land. I heard something on the TV tonight about a shut-down up there.

Mrs M has already given notice that she's off on holidays on 2nd September but if we can't pass the border we might not go far at all. Our friends called today, they just left Marble Bar where the summer temperatures have just been turned on. They said the hot winds have just struck so they are heading south as fast as they can passing here by tomorrow night. It seems like I just got out in time.

It's been warm and sunny since I got home on Friday so I could always drag the dryblower out to the lease and turn up some easier gold. The last couple of days before the rain gave me oz for about 5hrs work.

We have to run it through the sluice and then pan it and then of course it still doesn't look as good as nuggets.

Compare that to 5 weeks working every morning from sunup till midday or 2pm for 5 oz of nice little nuggets.

Of course this was with the GPX6000 so not counting the lead and rust I dug 685 holes.

If I'd have been swinging the GPX4500 I'd expect to have a haul of larger nuggets because it couldn't find most of these little ones

 

[silver]

Now that's Art.... :goldnugget:
Stay safe... backwoods has to be the best places in the world to be atm.
Maybe an automated hydroponic food garden would be a great thing to come home to each time you get back (be a good project)

 

[Phil8303]

I'm busy working on the bus so that we can take off in the first week of September. I don't know how it's all going to go because we're heading for the NT for my son's 40th up in Arnhem Land. I heard something on the TV tonight about a shut-down up there.

Mrs M has already given notice that she's off on holidays on 2nd September but if we can't pass the border we might not go far at all. Our friends called today, they just left Marble Bar where the summer temperatures have just been turned on. They said the hot winds have just struck so they are heading south as fast as they can passing here by tomorrow night. It seems like I just got out in time.

It's been warm and sunny since I got home on Friday so I could always drag the dryblower out to the lease and turn up some easier gold. The last couple of days before the rain gave me oz for about 5hrs work.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3960/1629209277_gold_pan_23-5-21.jpg

We have to run it through the sluice and then pan it and then of course it still doesn't look as good as nuggets.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3960/1629209435_gold_23-5-21.jpg

Compare that to 5 weeks working every morning from sunup till midday or 2pm for 5 oz of nice little nuggets.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3960/1629209594_pilbara_2021.jpg

Of course this was with the GPX6000 so not counting the lead and rust I dug 685 holes.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3960/1629211705_smiley_face.jpg

If I'd have been swinging the GPX4500 I'd expect to have a haul of larger nuggets because it couldn't find most of these little ones

So jealous, yet stoked for you mate! I'm up north for work off and on. I never have enough time to head down to Halls Creek or Meekathara unfortunately, but noticed the drive between Kununurra or Wyndham has some very quartzy-looking hills. Can I ask, have you ever had a pick around that top end of WA?

 

[Moneybox]

So jealous, yet stoked for you mate! I'm up north for work off and on. I never have enough time to head down to Halls Creek or Meekathara unfortunately, but noticed the drive between Kununurra or Wyndham has some very quartzy-looking hills. Can I ask, have you ever had a pick around that top end of WA?

No we've not been back up there since we bought our first metal detectors, a Garrett ATX and a White's GMT about six or seven years ago. We were panning in a creek bed south of Halls Creek when I decided we needed a metal detector. Big mistake - our holidays have never been so hard - we knock off work to go digging holes in the heat, stones, flies and the most inhospitable country we can find.

 

[Phil8303]

So jealous, yet stoked for you mate! I'm up north for work off and on. I never have enough time to head down to Halls Creek or Meekathara unfortunately, but noticed the drive between Kununurra or Wyndham has some very quartzy-looking hills. Can I ask, have you ever had a pick around that top end of WA?

No we've not been back up there since we bought our first metal detectors, a Garrett ATX and a White's GMT about six or seven years ago. We were panning in a creek bed south of Halls Creek when I decided we needed a metal detector. Big mistake - our holidays have never been so hard - we knock off work to go digging holes in the heat, stones, flies and the most inhospitable country we can find.

Hahaha, I laughed only because I love the heat.

Can I ask, how does the Garrett ATX handle on hot (iron stone) ground?

Phil

 

[Moneybox]

So jealous, yet stoked for you mate! I'm up north for work off and on. I never have enough time to head down to Halls Creek or Meekathara unfortunately, but noticed the drive between Kununurra or Wyndham has some very quartzy-looking hills. Can I ask, have you ever had a pick around that top end of WA?

No we've not been back up there since we bought our first metal detectors, a Garrett ATX and a White's GMT about six or seven years ago. We were panning in a creek bed south of Halls Creek when I decided we needed a metal detector. Big mistake - our holidays have never been so hard - we knock off work to go digging holes in the heat, stones, flies and the most inhospitable country we can find.

Hahaha, I laughed only because I love the heat.

Can I ask, how does the Garrett ATX handle on hot (iron stone) ground?

Phil

I had no problems with the ATX. I loved the machine but it couldn't find the small gold. Anything under about 0,3g was a struggle. I sold it and bought a GPX4500 and never looked back. I've regretted selling the ATX without taking it diving.

 

[Phil8303]

So jealous, yet stoked for you mate! I'm up north for work off and on. I never have enough time to head down to Halls Creek or Meekathara unfortunately, but noticed the drive between Kununurra or Wyndham has some very quartzy-looking hills. Can I ask, have you ever had a pick around that top end of WA?

No we've not been back up there since we bought our first metal detectors, a Garrett ATX and a White's GMT about six or seven years ago. We were panning in a creek bed south of Halls Creek when I decided we needed a metal detector. Big mistake - our holidays have never been so hard - we knock off work to go digging holes in the heat, stones, flies and the most inhospitable country we can find.

Hahaha, I laughed only because I love the heat.

Can I ask, how does the Garrett ATX handle on hot (iron stone) ground?

Phil

I had no problems with the ATX. I loved the machine but it couldn't find the small gold. Anything under about 0,3g was a struggle. I sold it and bought a GPX4500 and never looked back. I've regretted selling the ATX without taking it diving.

Cheers for the feedback, Moneybox. I am looking at the Gold Monster 1000 at the moment, but ATX sounds interesting, especially for diving.

 

[Moneybox]

Arriving home after a few weeks away is never easy, there are all those unfinished jobs you left behind just waiting there, there are those new jobs to correct problems that occurred while you were away and on this occasion the jobs that appeared on the whiteboard while I was away. I should have just taken her with me :lol:
Needless to say, I've been busy since I got home...

I left to go prospecting in the north because of the wet weather here in Cue. It was a good move because I had great weather up there while the rain continued to fall here. After receiving my pfizer jab I returned home and brought the sunshine with me. The ground has dried out but I've been too busy on other tasks to get the dryblower out. We are due to go away again so that will have to wait....on the list for when we get home

When we originally built the bus about 8 years ago it was on 31" tyres.

That had to change because we need singles in the bush. The dual wheels carry load well but are not the best offroad where we need to be in the search of gold and treasure.

Because we were working with Hummers at the time I converted a set of 16.5" Hummer wheels to fit the Isuzu and for the first few years we rode on 35" tyres. They did the job to some extent but failed to carry the excess weight inevitable after a successful fossicking or prospecting trip. Finally I decided to bite the bullet and purchased a set of 17" wheels fitted with 37" tyres. These tyres gave us an extra 500kg of load carrying capacity as well as a bit more ground clearance.

There's always a downside and in this case it was the gearing. The extra size of the new wheels and tyres meant that we lost the slow crawling ability in the bush and the cruising speed on the highway was not at the ideal engine speed for best performance. That left me with two choices, the first was to recut a couple of gears in the transfer case to change the output speed, the second was to purchase replacement diffs in the correct ratio. I would have preferred to remove the transfer case from our other Isuzu truck, modify it and then swap it into the bus. As the truck had been stolen that choice went out the window so I went looking for diffs. I found a set of diffs at Cosgroves in NSW but difficulties with the purchase and items supplied meant that that transaction took nearly two years to complete.

That was my first job when I got home. I started with the rear diff. It's big and heavy but at least the bus has heaps of ground clearance so the job could be done with the wheels on the ground. With a bit of help from Mrs M to steer the trolley jack and lower it to the ground we removed the old diff and prepared to install the new one. Close inspection revealed that the diffs were different, the centre carrier gear set on the replacement diff was offset to one side. That meant if I was to fit this diff I was going to have to find a long and a short axle to match, an almost impossible task. That left me with the task of changing the centre gear carrier from one diff to the other. It shouldn't have been too difficult but Isuzu in their wisdom fixed the crown wheel with E-Torx type bolts that I found impossible to remove with conventional tools. I purchased the correct sockets, made a slight modification to the socket and carried out the job. It took a few days but the rear diff was done.

After removal of the front diff I was very careful to check the gear set, it was correct. The job seemed simple enough, the diff was still too heavy to handle without the use of the jack but I knew I could handle that since we'd done the rear one. After installing the diff I went to fit the propeller (tail) shaft. I thought it was going a bit too easy, the attachment flange was different on the new diff. Just another hurdle but a bit of muscle and a special home made tool and the job was completed

The final drive ratio has changed from 5.4:1 to the new 6.1:1 improving our gear ratio by about 10%. That meant another short trip away to prove my work before heading out on our next adventure north

I'll tell you about that soon but right now I'd better get back to work, I'm packing up layful:

 

[Moneybox]

The trip out Yalgoo way was a hurried one.

We never do enough sight seeing close to home and these wreath flowers are found only around here and nowhere else on the planet and they only flower for a short period of time each year.

At this time of the year, spring, the wild flowers are everywhere.

Mrs M decided it was time to go and see them for once and with a couple of days to spare off we went.

I enjoy travel and looking at the flowers but my real reason for going was to give the bus a run on the new diffs before heading north to the NT.

We had to get some work done about the house as well. We spent a couple of days, well a few hours at least, covering the garden so that it doesn't fry in the summer heat while we're away.

Mrs M is sure to come home with a few relics too so she spent some time hanging some of her previous finds

 

[PabloP]

Those Wreath flowers look interesting, is there a particular place that is good to see them? I have been along that road and the main thing that I saw ear Yalgoo was a very thick dust storm.

Rob P.