Anybody tried using those sit on top kayaks as dredge floats? They look like they’d be good in a fast flowing river?
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sounds like a great idea ive seen everything used from 150mm sewer pipe to a row of inner tubes. I made my own out of aluminum they were large so as I could stand on them with out sinking. don’t know why I needed to stand on the dredge
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as you see it was quite a set up and took abit to get it on top of the roof. with it so visible every one knew what you were up to. not that that mattered because I had a claim up the pell stream. as in the photo
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That’s a nice setup. Pretty easy to move around?
What were they worth to get made?
Best price I’ve seen for single seat kayak is $299 at the warehouse. They are supposed to handle 80kg but look like they would do better than that.
$499 each for a two seater. Handle 130kg. Couple of those might work for a 6 inch.
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mine cost me material only. I worked in an engineering workshop. to get them made I doubt if you would get change out of $2000. it would handle rough and fast water but not confined spaces
at least with a kayak you could use it as a kayak.
When we first went dredging there was no such thing as commercial floats and a great deal of individualisation went into making them, often the design and construction being based on available finances.
Some of our dredge pontoons and floats were made from thick black plastic 20 litre containers. These cost peanuts. We also got gray ones but the uv rays made them brittle and they shattered after ten years.
Forty years later the black plastic ones are every bit as good as they were when new.
We plastic welder three or four head to tail then encased them in a light aluminium frame.
They are very buoyant and the entire pontoon can be made for less than a couple of 4wd tanks of petrol.
Got 20lt containers on my small 4 inch at the moment that are doing the job. Need to upgrade a bit for my bigger sluicebox.
To refill gas, check the box
What size dredge are you building ? , a mate has a bit of kit hes wanting to sell , the floats are pretty good some type of drum iv not seen the style before but they will certainly do the job .
how about this for a novel idea. get some balloons or air bags fill them fill full of helium tie them to the motor etc and hover them round to where you want it set up. you would need to tie or anchor down when in use. endless possibilities think of not having to carry anything just float it in to place . maybe suspend the operation under a drone.
I have a dvd of a group of guys who built a 10 inch dredge into a large mariner hovercraft. They took it to canada and spent 2 weeks camping and dredging up the river. Was a great peice of kit. Super easy to move around.
DeVore mining they called themselves.
Got to find enough with the 4 inch to pay for building a 6 inch. Current sluice box was for a 3 inch. Bit small for the 4 inch setup but have a bigger box to setup now.
well that answer is about as clear as mud , this setup will suit a 6" , hes got a bunch of stuff , floats, dredge , sluice box , frame just need to be finished off , don’t think he has any engines or hose,s , is on a trailer located in southland .
Thanks sootypete. That sounds good.
Unfortunately I’ve pretty much used up all my goodwill with the wife regarding dredge expenditure.
I need to show her some of the yellow stuff in a bottle before I start on stage 2 of my little dredging empire.
Hopefully in the next month (work permitting) so will keep in touch.
Cheers
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