Im going to be building a new dredge over the winter At this stage will be a 5” as i feel it will be a good comprise between through put and power. ( in theory a good 5” should process as much as a average 6”)
I Have a gx270/proline hp500 combo to run it With air.
Claim has alot of fine gold from what ive seen, and alot of the claim is narrow and reasonably shallow
What would be the things you would do/have on a custom built dredge? Or what would you do differently.
Want to build it once and build it right.
Strength is a big issue want it strong enough it can be dragged semi set up/loaded with gear with a winch or quad.
Seen a few home builts. Main things. Keep your motor and intake as close to the water as possible. Water is heavy and you dont wanna lift it more then necessary. But make sure your not front heavy and gonna sink your motor.
For fine gold make a long box. Fine stuff is always moving. The longer the box the more you catch. Seen some with 4m box. Easier to cut down then extending in the future.
And the #1 rule. Dont make some crazy shit with bells and whistles. You want easy fix stuff. Simple and useful. If it breaks you dont wanna wait for something from china to arrive. Make sure everything can be sourced local. Trust me. Nothing like hitting the patch and breaking down only to find you have to wait a week, month before you can fix it.
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That is exactly my thoughts. Strong and simple. Everything is going to be built by my mate so patch ups will be easy as getting it to him or attacking it my self.
Thinking of alloy floats with a plastic liner to make them slide over rock easier. Low is stable as well as the lift issues. Was thinking a slightly longer than standard box styled off the keene 3stage. With maybe that vortex/dream mat in the under sluice.