Beach and Water / Scuba Dive Detecting Forum

I took my new Excal II out Sunday am determined to find a spanish half-reale coin or two.
I arrived at my spot at 530 am (North of Sebastian Inlet) and started detecting using headlight and a small LED light on my detector shaft.
I had not been to that area since about 2009 and was shocked to find the whole beach was about 4 or 5 feet higher than last time I had been there.
Apparently they had replenished the sand since I had last found two spanish 1715 half-reales there in 04 and 05.
Nothing but a few newer nickles and some fishing tackle. The old coins from the 1960's were deeply buried and not to be found, so no reason to waste too much time there.
The Spanish coins, I believe, were washing out of the dunes, but only during extreme tides/surf/hurricanes.

Headed to Cocoa Beach and water was too rough for wading so I stuck to the beach.
Using all-metal mode I found a few pennies and the usual trash along the waterline.
After an hour the new stealth 8 classic scoop began to feel like a sledge hammer.
But boy does it ever dig !
I was used to swinging my other scoop one-handed over my shoulder, but this thing is heavy !
I would gladly pay the extra cost for one made of Titanium instead of the heavy stainless.
Thats the only bad thing to say about it though, its really nice to work with otherwise.

I gave up on the beach and hit a volleyball court there in the sand.
It had obviously been picked clean of all coins but I decided to try around the outer perimeter of the court where rings might fly.
Sure enough - a big ring. Bad thing is it was titanium.
I will try the west coast this next weekend - Clearwater beach - if the thunderstorms don't stop me.

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I'm happy with my new Stealth, but can you believe I've put a dent in it already? I must have found a big rock somewhere...

I'm thinking about replacing my RTG Beachmaster scoop with a Stealth. I've heard that they are great scoops. Just cannot decide which one to get. The Stealth Classic or the SugarSand.

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HH

Steve - Northern Virginia

Detectors: Minelab Excalibur II w/ Plugger Two Piece Travel Shaft and Knob Guard
Minelab E-Trac w/ Sun Ray Probe, Pro-Tector Rain Jacket, Pro-Tector Padded E-Trac Cover, Swingy Thingy Harness
Garrett Infinium LS w/ Plugger Two Piece Travel Shaft

Accessories: Predator Tools Model 75 Digging Tool, Predator Tools Model 85 Digging Tool, Predator Tools Raven Model 25 Shovel, Sunspot Stealth 6.5 Classic Beach Scoop, RTG Beachmaster Water Scoop, Pro Beach & Water Hunting Pouch, Sun Ray Deluxe Treasure Pouch, Sun Ray Pro Gold Headphones, Garrett Waterproof Headphones, Garrett Pro-Pointer, Sun Ray Coin Popper, Minelab Detector Carry Bag

Excal II Coils: Stock 10"

E-Trac Coils: 6" DD EXcelerator EQ 2 Pro, Sun Ray Stealth X-8, 12x10" SEF (Butterfly), 15x12" SEF (Butterfly)

Infinium Coils: Garrett 10 x 14 DD, Garrett 8" Mono

Oldest Coins Found - 1816 Coronet Large One Cent (Matron Head), 1834 Bust Dime, 1847 Seated Half Dime

If all I did was ocean beaches I would definitely go with the sugar sand scoop. I've already had a few smaller targets drop through, mostly sinkers, but a couple of earrings, too. Some of the lakes I hit are rocky so the Classic works well for me. I might put a small screen and magnet on mine to help with the smaller stuff....

I have a beachmaster and it is better for wet sand due to it being a screen.
4 or 5 shakes and its strained the sand out.
The stealth doesn't "like" wet sand - you have to really spend time shaking it out.
The stealth is best for in-water or dry sand BUT it is a fantastic digging tool in wet sand if your goal is to remove lots of sand fro a hole as quickly as possible.
If you mainly do dry sand only the stealth "sugar sand" model would work great, but don't expect it to strain wet sand at all (waterline sand).

I would like to see a hybrid scoop made from the stealth - stainless outer frame with screen sections where it matters.

Just like scubadetector said the stealth is a tank, i would love to be able to use it in the ocean sand everyday but here in TN I use it in the rivers and streams which is usually mud and rocks... talk about building muscles

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triplehooked
I'm happy with my new Stealth, but can you believe I've put a dent in it already? I must have found a big rock somewhere...

Don't know how bad you dented it, but if you send it back to Chuck, he'll fix it and send it right back to you. He even modified mine with extra supports for added strength.

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Hopster
I have a beachmaster and it is better for wet sand due to it being a screen.
4 or 5 shakes and its strained the sand out.
The stealth doesn't "like" wet sand - you have to really spend time shaking it out.
The stealth is best for in-water or dry sand BUT it is a fantastic digging tool in wet sand if your goal is to remove lots of sand fro a hole as quickly as possible.
If you mainly do dry sand only the stealth "sugar sand" model would work great, but don't expect it to strain wet sand at all (waterline sand).

I would like to see a hybrid scoop made from the stealth - stainless outer frame with screen sections where it matters.

I'm pretty happy with my RTG Beachmaster as it is very good in the wet sand. The only complaints that I have is volume of sand dug and the smaller items fall through the screen. Is there anything made today that would be considered a "hybrid" scoop that does well in dry and wet sand?

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HH

Steve - Northern Virginia

Detectors: Minelab Excalibur II w/ Plugger Two Piece Travel Shaft and Knob Guard
Minelab E-Trac w/ Sun Ray Probe, Pro-Tector Rain Jacket, Pro-Tector Padded E-Trac Cover, Swingy Thingy Harness
Garrett Infinium LS w/ Plugger Two Piece Travel Shaft

Accessories: Predator Tools Model 75 Digging Tool, Predator Tools Model 85 Digging Tool, Predator Tools Raven Model 25 Shovel, Sunspot Stealth 6.5 Classic Beach Scoop, RTG Beachmaster Water Scoop, Pro Beach & Water Hunting Pouch, Sun Ray Deluxe Treasure Pouch, Sun Ray Pro Gold Headphones, Garrett Waterproof Headphones, Garrett Pro-Pointer, Sun Ray Coin Popper, Minelab Detector Carry Bag

Excal II Coils: Stock 10"

E-Trac Coils: 6" DD EXcelerator EQ 2 Pro, Sun Ray Stealth X-8, 12x10" SEF (Butterfly), 15x12" SEF (Butterfly)

Infinium Coils: Garrett 10 x 14 DD, Garrett 8" Mono

Oldest Coins Found - 1816 Coronet Large One Cent (Matron Head), 1834 Bust Dime, 1847 Seated Half Dime

Tried out the Stealth in the water finally, FL west coast south of Clearwater Bch. (Belleair Beach)
Conditions were lousy due to dredging/ beach replenishment just to the north of me, but I was impressed each time I went after the few targets there were.
2 or 3 tries maximum and I had it in the scoop. Under these same conditions I figure it would have taken 8 or 9 tries with the beachmaster.
This was "blind" digging, visibility no more than 18-20 inches, feeling the coil edge with my toe and then taking a scoop.
I used the wooden handle on this trip and the scoop was a lot easier to swing over the shoulder when needed.

Again on the dry sand further south at St Pete beach, the amount of shells mixed in with the sand made it necessary to use the scoop as a shovel -
just dumping each load out next to the hole and re-checking the hole.

Did 4 volleyball courts there and found only clad and lots of aluminum shards. Area was obviously picked clean by someone ignoring foil signals.
To the north for 20 miles there is a undercut bank along the beach and full of bottlecaps and clad. No gold yet .....but should be holding some.

Stealth or not - this coming weekend would be a good time to hit any beaches from St Pete northward to Belleair Beach where they are dumping sand.
I left the area just before they closed the bridge for this storm and I heard they had huge waves, so who knows what got dug up.

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Excalibur 800 Serial # EX112, made me $26,000+ still working.
Excalibur 1000/GreyGhosts
Excalibur II -1000/Grey Ghosts

Between sand replenishment and the fact that Florida beaches are getting hammered on a daily basis by other beach hunters, finding decent targets is getting harder and harder.

The last few times I went I came back with less than $1.00 in change and no jewelry.

I'm hearing that from a lot people these days.

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De-activated at members request



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2012 01:33PM by Smudge.

So that makes a planned weekend at South Beach Miami sound like it wouldn't be worth the hotel .......
Anyone have any luck there lately ?

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Excalibur 800 Serial # EX112, made me $26,000+ still working.
Excalibur 1000/GreyGhosts
Excalibur II -1000/Grey Ghosts

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Hopster
So that makes a planned weekend at South Beach Miami sound like it wouldn't be worth the hotel .......
Anyone have any luck there lately ?

I'd do it, but not for the detecting........... South Beach - sigh............

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clearwatermike

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triplehooked
I'm happy with my new Stealth, but can you believe I've put a dent in it already? I must have found a big rock somewhere...

Don't know how bad you dented it, but if you send it back to Chuck, he'll fix it and send it right back to you. He even modified mine with extra supports for added strength.

Nahh, not a bad dent and not worth sending in, just gives it a little character. Besides, it was my fault for reefing on it so hard. My only complaint with the Stealth is that the holes in the back allow stuff to fall through. I'll be adding a screen and magnet soon to remedy that...