Advice Needed - Delta @ Saltwater beach

[MickTwin]

As many of you know I'm just beginning, but not being afraid to try anything for myself, I used my Delta 4000 in wet saltwater today. It was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit with no wind so I decided to give it a go. Much of the dry sand was frozen and under snow so my rubber boots and I went past the wet sand into ankle deep water for a while. Many of you probably know how noisy All Metal mode is on a trashy lawn.. just wait till you get your 8 inch stock coil over and in salt water!

I wasn't sure if I could use it - discrimination mode was definitely out. But after setting the Delta to All Metal Mode 1, I entered a sort of ZEN state - ignoring much of the noise and keying in on the strong signals. Almost as if I had a threshold tone of a PI unit (albeit choppier). Sure enough I was finding plenty of iron and foil and a couple nickels.

I went up on the wet sand for much of the hunt AFTER I buried a quarter about 4 inches under the sand (still in ankle deep water). This was because I discovered that I could hardly get a signal.. certainly not like the strong silver hit I get with my Delta (at 4" and much deeper) in soil. Does the Delta suffer from lack of depth in saltwater.. even in All Metal 1?

And then I found my first gold (or so I hoped) child sized bracelet. It was hitting 40 in zinc range till in AM1 at 3 inches in wet sand. Turned out to be plated, but it was gold color anyway I was feeling great, not from the find alone, but just really enjoying the walk on the beach and watching the dogs and their owners run around. This even after two larger dogs clothes-lined me from behind and knocked me over. I laughed and assured the ladies that owned them I was OK and even had a dog myself (white boxer).

Anyway, I had fun experimenting. I even found a small dark stone that was giving a strong signal and dug it out of wet sand. Thinking like the real "Meteorite Men" fan that I am, I tested it with the rare-earth magnet that I pulled from an old hard drive. Sure-Nuff "CLICK" - it stuck!! I'm gonna keep dreaming that it IS a meteorite and not a meteor-wrong. Perhaps one day I'll get it tested.

Lot's of fun on the beach.. perhaps I'll get a chance to go back tomorrow.. I still love my Delta and am learning it's language more and more each time I use it. Happy New Year

 

[all iron]

Congrats on your finds and i have never used my delta on a beach or salt water.
I wish i had a beach to walk on!
The delta is a great machine , did you try it in A2 mode ( possibly a little less chatty? )
Slow and steady is the key, once you find a good target, put your detector through the pases by adjusting the settings to see what response you get.

I may be headed to Florida in may and would like to here about your findings

 

[MickTwin]

Happy New Year all iron! I'm not in Florida, but in NY. I did try A2 and it was less chatty. I couldn't help but think that I was sacrificing depth with A2 and went back to A1. Not sure what kind of difference it made, if any. I'll keep the forum posted on any/all finds. Hoo Rah!

Rob in NY (MickTwin)

 

[Monte]

I used my Delta 4000 in wet saltwater today. It was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit with no wind so I decided to give it a go. Much of the dry sand was frozen and under snow so my rubber boots and I went past the wet sand into ankle deep water for a while. Many of you probably know how noisy All Metal mode is on a trashy lawn.. just wait till you get your 8 inch stock coil over and in salt water!

40

 

[MickTwin]

Well, I went back to the beach and 50 degree F. weather (not to shabby for a NY New Years Day). It was low tide again and I took the Delta right back down near the waters edge. I tried discrimination mode allowing everything but iron and foil. It was chatting with every swing at a sensitivity setting of 8 (out of 12). I lowered it down to 5 before it quieted down a bit, but it still was giving me false signals.. I tried all metal 1 and 2 for about an hour. Brought the sens back to 8. AM2 WAS quieter, but had so many choppy/cutoff signals that I thought the loss of depth wasn't worth the small change in noise. For the hours work, I was rewarded with 4 pull tabs and 3 rusty bottle caps. All, but one less than 3 inches.

All in all, I've decided that to hunt in saltwater/wet sand I need to have a machine with adjustable GB. I couldn't help but think I was only getting a few inches of depth in wet sand and thankfully the Delta 4000 has an adjustable volume (my headphones don't).

I only had a little time left to hunt so I went back up to dry sand. I kept it in AM1 because I really am hoping for some gold. I hit a clad dime at 7 inches almost immediately.. remember swinging it on wet sand produced hardly anything. The lesson I learned is that the Delta is fine on a saltwater beach as long as you keep to the dry sand (hey, there's plenty of treasure lost there anyway). And Monte.. thanks again for your input - a hearty Semper Fi to your son!

 

[tvr]

MickTwin,
Wonderful post on observations and experimenting! I suspect there is a waterproof detector in your future.

Salt water, in the water and the wet sand is a different animal than the dry is. Many detectors that have adjustable ground balance do not adjust to the wet salt. As far as some relative settings on ground balance, the best comparison I can offer is from the T2's sister the F75. Both, according to the manuals, balance from wet salt to ferrous. The range is from 0 to 99 with 5 clicks between each number. Over dirt, the extremes of the ground balance range I've seen with the F75, show a ground balance range of around 45 to 85. Most conditions I hunt are around 65. I'd suspect that factory fixed ground balance settings may be just a little above this. Monte and some others may have some insight on the factory fixed settings, I don't, I'm just guessing. With the T2's sister (F75), on most beaches I've been on, walking from a dry sand area to a damp salt sand area on a salt water beach the ground balance jumps from 60 to 70 range to 10 to 15 range very suddenly as the dampness sets it. Over the wet sand not just damp, the ground balance is at one or zero with each click making a significant change in how the detector sounds when setting up the ground balance and in how it responds to targets. The wet sand beaches I've been to on, mostly the Atlantic coast from Florida to Delaware, ground balance in the wet is at the one to zero cross over plus or minus about 3 clicks. There is a very significant change in audio response in discriminate mode at these GB settings as opposed to how it sounds over dirt in the 45 to 85 range. It is much easier to listen to in all metal over the wet salt beach and since these sisters show target ID numbers in all metal, it is a great way to hunt.

I started out with a fixed ground balance detector and, like you, experimented on the beach. The fixed GB detector will do great on fresh water beaches, but in my experience and opinion, you need to be able to ground balance to the wet salt to get good depth on the wet salt sand and into the water, ankle deep or however deep you want to go .... and when we start thinking about chasing jewelry in the water, then we talk about a water proof submersible detector.

OK back to the first sentence!
Cheers,
tvr