Metal Detecting in the silt

[photobackpacker]

Videos of folks using metal detectors show them uncovering a target by fanning the bottom with their hand. In the lakes I often dive, this is the fastest way to induce Zero-Zero visibility.

I will be starting to use an underwater detector (Minelab Excalibur II) soon and any tips are appreciated. I do have 2 initial questions:

1. When you are using a metal detector on a silty lake bottom, how do you approach finding the target?

2. Does a detector sense deeper in silt than is sand or about the same?

Thanks

 

[Zerovis]

all i can say is best of luck ,i took a vibra tector into my local canal dock its 7 meters deep 5 of water and 2 of silt. you cant fan the stuff ,if you use a trowel it pulls it all up and there is no way i would stick my hand in there not even with gloves .maybe you could buy a sand scoop and hope you get the target with the first shot. i do recommend you use a plastic trowel and sive that way if you pick up something in it you can put the whole lot under the detector head to see if its metal.
of course the canal dock is probably the worst place to bring a PI unit too many people throwing junk in. lets know how you get on.

 

[HowardE]

1. Metal detectors generally only detect what is immediately below them. When you get a hit. Settle in, and make sweeps with the detector in an x pattern, so that you can pinpoint the location. Once you have the spot. Fanning works well. If you silt it out a bit... either wait a minute for viz to settle, or pull some clean water down from above (yes this will actually work enough to see the bottom) hand fanning generally won't move the metal object away. Keep checking regularly with the detector to ensure that the hit is still there, or if you blew it away.

2. That depends on what the material is made out of. the density of the substrate, etc.

 

[newbie1968]

i have been scuba diving in fresh water lakes with my metal detector and i have lots and lots of silver and mud. what i do i just pinpoint the spot and grab the mub and check with coil. if there is nothing in my hand then the object is still there. i repeat this process until i found what i am looking for. i hope this helps.

 

[fdog]

I have done this before (albiet quite a few years ago).

Accept the fact that you're going to end up in zero vis, and set up a jackstay search. Placing the coil in your hand, not on the end of the little stick, makes it lots easier to end up on top of the object.


All the best, James

 

[newbie1968]

i have actually made a detector shaft out of an pvc pipe. so it is just a shorty shaft. works great. around where i live, there is not a chance of of not having 0 visibility. the only way i could detect is change the beach and look for something sandy. i guess what i am saying is there is like 3 to 5 inches of mud at the bottom of the lake and grabing and checking would be my only way of searching an area. ty. sorry i just had to add that one in and ty.