Greetings folks and I hope everyone is doing well.
John Boy here and I do quite a bit of beach hunting with the Gigmaster here in Virginia.
I’ve been relic hunting here in Virginia for about 35 years. I mostly hunt civil war and colonial relics. I’ve used a ton of different land machines over the years with great success hunting relics. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have had the opportunity to dig lots of war relics, colonial relics that include a lot of Spanish Silver coins like reales, pieces of eight, bits and cobs. I’ve dug a bunch of buckles, sword belt plates and box plates. But my pride has been some of the super rare civil war and rev war buttons I’ve found. I have been pretty lucky to live here in Virginia that has offered me so many historical targets; that’s been half my success.
I live outside the Tidewater area and began hunting the beaches back in the 90’s with a Fisher 1280-X Aquanaut. I used it for scuba diving as well. But when I wanted to hunt the beach, I had to quickly mount the control box to my weight belt and hunt with the shaft and coil. Those were the good days with plenty of gold class rings, gold wedding bands and lots of silver to be found. Heck, there was gold everything to be found. Now, there’s a lot of hybrid metals so you have to be persistent and hunt hard for the gold. Not to mention that there’s a ton of beach hunters now.
I never was a pulse guy and graduated up to a Fisher CZ21. These were bulky machines but I certainly made good gold with it. Did most of my hunting at night when the tide was right and folks were gone.
Things have certainly changed and so have the machines. I spend most of my time behind and Equinox 800 on the beach and in the water submerged. It’s a great beach machined and hunts very well in the saltwater. Gigmaster and I have done very well on the rings this year with the Equinox. But, it’s my opinion that the Equinox has been susceptible to flooding, weak coil brackets, a weak shaft and the arm supports that always want to break. Most everyone upgrades the shafts and arm cuffs to Detect-Ed and also strengthen their coil tabs. But if mine broke or flooded today, I’d purchase another one tomorrow; they’re that good. Like everything, just not perfect!
But, I decided to purchase an Excalibur II and was looking for a water shaft to hunt with. Naturally I reached out to this forum which I’ve been a member for over 15 years. There is a ton of expertise on the water forum and that’s what I was looking for to guide me towards the proper shaft and handle system.
I happen to cross paths with Chuck from Owl Engineering who was kind enough to let me test his prototype on my new Excalibur. I wanted to thank Chuck for letting me be the Guinea Pig and experiment around in the water with his new system. For the record, I do not know Chuck or Owl Engineering so he took a risk sending me his product.
Over several decades and lots of detectors, I feel like I have some credible experience with detecting land, with scuba and on the beaches. But I’ll never claim to be the expert. There are several beach and water hunters on this forum I would love to hunt with; just for bragging rights. I’m certainly not trying to surpass the awesome knowledge and success that some of you bring to the table but here’s my story:
Chuck was kind enough to send me his prototype that was very carefully packaged and shipped to my house. This was a prototype mock up and was not anodized. I was advised how this system would be finished and was good with that. Mine was simply a functioning model. It came with an upper shaft, handle, a newly designed arm cuff and a stork leg lower shaft. I attached my new Excalibur to the shaft and routed the coil cable, and after charging, it was ready to go.
Then the North winds hit Virginia Beach with 3 to 5 foot sea conditions. Absolutely not conducive for wading in the water. Plus the North winds were actually adding sand to the beach, covering everything up. I was itching to go but Mother Nature trapped me on the beach.
Gigmaster and I actually hit the beach last week which allowed me to do a little testing. To begin with, the Excalibur is a new detector for me. I have never used one, so I’m at a learning curve. But, learning how a detector operates is completely different how a detector travels through the water. I know how poorly my Equinox travels when submerged.
I used Chuck’s shaft and handle system on the beach, wading in knee high water and completely submerged. My personal perspective was very positive with this system. The machine glided through the water almost effortlessly. After bulldozing the Equinox through the water, Chucks system was a breeze. I was almost moving it too fast and I had to slow it down. I found the system very light weight and it yields a good balance in the water and it gave me excellent coil control. The horizontally mounted control box and battery also help cut down the water’s drag.
I plan to use his stork leg system for a while and give it some good testing. The shafts are smaller diameter with very minor flexing. I found this system to be nicely constructed and an ease to put together.
Being that this is a new product, I cannot tell how it will function with months heavy use. All I can say is that I honestly like it and hope to return with additional good reports. I’ll tell it like it is, good or bad. I’m sure if any issues arise, the Owl will make it right.
cool stuff!
