HullGuitars
Forum Supporter
Its no secret the Tesoro compadre holds many secrets to metal detecting success. If you hunt long enough, and buy enough "top of the line" EXPENSIVE gear, you will eventually end up with a compadre. I prefer the RARE 7" coil model on recommendation of digger27. He is an amazing detectorist, and takes a ruthlessly thorough approach to finding GOLD. I really look up to his ethic and grit as a detectorist, but his analytical skills are among the best.
I hunt a lot of rivers and streams, as well as fresh water beaches and deep "blue hole" swimming areas. I snorkel and crawl the rocks in iron infested waters, and dive the blue holes up to about 12ft deep. That's a tricky one! Anyway, below is listed what I always wanted in a water machine.....
-Sensitivity surpassing all else
-The ability to work in THICK iron
-Lightweight machine that is easily broken down to "dive" length
-Small coil... NOT SNIPER, but not standard. The 7" is perfect
-Razor sharp discrimination.
-Bulletproof and waterproof.
-Very small and lightweight
The compadre offers extreame sensitivity to even the smalles gold chains and broken links. It works in thick iron like its not even there. It is lightweigh as is, but my mods make it the lightest. The 7" coil gives you almost as much ground coverage as the standard, but has even sharper discrimination than the 5"! The electronics are bulletproof, and can easily be added on to.
So heres what I did. I took a waterproof compadre and....
1. Disasembled EVERYTHING. Throw it all away except computer board and coil.
2. Added an on/off waterproof switch.
3. Constructed a carbon fiber straight shaft, with perfect length, but the ability to be turned into a dive shaft.
4. Custome fit computer into a top of the line waterproof container, adding an external waterproof on/off switch so that the waterproof shell is ONLY OPENED at home in dry/clean conditions.
5. Treated the electronics internally with a moisture barrier (hyper phobic) so that the they can be completely submerged for hours and it wont hur them whatsoever. This product is a complex industrial version of rustoleums "never wet"
6. Upgraded the piezo speaker so that it can easily be heard outside the container, and even diving in deep water.
7. added a small digital hygrometer that sounds an alarm and flashes lights if the moisture content changes WHATSOEVER inside the waterproof housing. it will even pick up a change in the atmospheric moisture when the case is opened.
8. For now I'm using a lithium Ion 9v to run the machine, which keeps everything at peak for about 15 hours running HARD.... but I will be building a micro NiCad battery pack to double the operating time.
9.The waterproof housing is mounted under the arm to keep perfect balance. It is mounted with a strap so that there were only TWO HOLES drilled in the housing. One hole for the cable wire, and one for the waterproof switch. Every precaution has been taken, and the tolerances are amazing. If this machine leaks I'll eat the darned thing!
10. Treated the coil with a layer of nylon laminated and "welded" to the bottom, then sprayed with industrial two part truck bed liner.
It has been pressure tested in my vacuumed/pressure pot to well over 100 feet of water depth. The case will withstand my truck tire running over it no problems!
This compadre just left with a friend of mine on his way to big pine key for several weeks of diving, but all the components will be arriving this week for another build. I have everything stripped down and will be taking photos of the whole process.
I am also listing all the materials used, and adding photos of them. A huge thanks to OBN for his input, digger27 for showing me how great of a machine the compadre really is, machineman for taking the bull by the horns and doing his version first, and goes4ever for helping me make up my mind to do the build. When I saw him pick up a $150 machine to hunt fields with over a etrac or ctx,,.... that's when I decided it was really as good as everyone said! I will update this thread as materials arrive and the process starts.
I may add a sensitivity, volume, and pinpoint later, but just want to get out there for now!.
For now here's the materials I can remember.
I named it the river rat because growing up I spent most of my time on the water with my father. He would pick me up from school in his boat, and we would go to the river and fish. We would bowfish all night, then eat breakfast at the gas station the next morning. Then hit up the dam until dark for some rockfish or hybrids. We did this all the time and he called us "river rats". So I can keep dad with me while im detecting. He would like that
I hunt a lot of rivers and streams, as well as fresh water beaches and deep "blue hole" swimming areas. I snorkel and crawl the rocks in iron infested waters, and dive the blue holes up to about 12ft deep. That's a tricky one! Anyway, below is listed what I always wanted in a water machine.....
-Sensitivity surpassing all else
-The ability to work in THICK iron
-Lightweight machine that is easily broken down to "dive" length
-Small coil... NOT SNIPER, but not standard. The 7" is perfect
-Razor sharp discrimination.
-Bulletproof and waterproof.
-Very small and lightweight
The compadre offers extreame sensitivity to even the smalles gold chains and broken links. It works in thick iron like its not even there. It is lightweigh as is, but my mods make it the lightest. The 7" coil gives you almost as much ground coverage as the standard, but has even sharper discrimination than the 5"! The electronics are bulletproof, and can easily be added on to.
So heres what I did. I took a waterproof compadre and....
1. Disasembled EVERYTHING. Throw it all away except computer board and coil.
2. Added an on/off waterproof switch.
3. Constructed a carbon fiber straight shaft, with perfect length, but the ability to be turned into a dive shaft.
4. Custome fit computer into a top of the line waterproof container, adding an external waterproof on/off switch so that the waterproof shell is ONLY OPENED at home in dry/clean conditions.
5. Treated the electronics internally with a moisture barrier (hyper phobic) so that the they can be completely submerged for hours and it wont hur them whatsoever. This product is a complex industrial version of rustoleums "never wet"
6. Upgraded the piezo speaker so that it can easily be heard outside the container, and even diving in deep water.
7. added a small digital hygrometer that sounds an alarm and flashes lights if the moisture content changes WHATSOEVER inside the waterproof housing. it will even pick up a change in the atmospheric moisture when the case is opened.
8. For now I'm using a lithium Ion 9v to run the machine, which keeps everything at peak for about 15 hours running HARD.... but I will be building a micro NiCad battery pack to double the operating time.
9.The waterproof housing is mounted under the arm to keep perfect balance. It is mounted with a strap so that there were only TWO HOLES drilled in the housing. One hole for the cable wire, and one for the waterproof switch. Every precaution has been taken, and the tolerances are amazing. If this machine leaks I'll eat the darned thing!
10. Treated the coil with a layer of nylon laminated and "welded" to the bottom, then sprayed with industrial two part truck bed liner.
It has been pressure tested in my vacuumed/pressure pot to well over 100 feet of water depth. The case will withstand my truck tire running over it no problems!
This compadre just left with a friend of mine on his way to big pine key for several weeks of diving, but all the components will be arriving this week for another build. I have everything stripped down and will be taking photos of the whole process.
I am also listing all the materials used, and adding photos of them. A huge thanks to OBN for his input, digger27 for showing me how great of a machine the compadre really is, machineman for taking the bull by the horns and doing his version first, and goes4ever for helping me make up my mind to do the build. When I saw him pick up a $150 machine to hunt fields with over a etrac or ctx,,.... that's when I decided it was really as good as everyone said! I will update this thread as materials arrive and the process starts.
I may add a sensitivity, volume, and pinpoint later, but just want to get out there for now!.
For now here's the materials I can remember.
I named it the river rat because growing up I spent most of my time on the water with my father. He would pick me up from school in his boat, and we would go to the river and fish. We would bowfish all night, then eat breakfast at the gas station the next morning. Then hit up the dam until dark for some rockfish or hybrids. We did this all the time and he called us "river rats". So I can keep dad with me while im detecting. He would like that
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but it can cause burns if recharged. That's what it states, as it's a non rechargeable.
I've been recharging them since they were released. I've got over 100 charges on one in particular with no "burn" but I have a smart charger that cuts it off when it's full
