I had a Explorer II and found lots of great things with it on the beach. Really solid performer but I never took it into the water, not even shallow water. But, and this is just me, it had way too much in the way of programmable features that I simply didn't need and the thing was really heavy. I never could get comfortable using a support like the Swingy Thingy (great idea, just couldn't get used to it) so my arm started to develop some constant soreness (I play lots of golf so this is not good). Anyway, I now use the Sov GT, chest mounted, on the beach. I use it everywhere on the beach but again, not even in shallow water. I can swing this thing all day long with no arm fatigue and it's as stable as the Explorer II ever was, just doesn't have the bells and whistles but that's okay because I don't need them where I'm hunting. So, I guess if I were you I would think about maybe using the Excal in the water and the GT on the beach on days you don't want to go into the water. And as to the ankle deep water, I think you will have some of this problem with any detector. At that depth, I think maybe wave action is causing those problems. The coil either needs to be submerged enough to stay under that. In closing I'll just say that I wouldn't trade the GT to go back to the Explorer for anything. Best of luck.
Jerry