Ohio State Prospectors Association

Did some upgrades over the winter. I'm hoping for this years tile of Dredge-A-Billy, currently held by Sonny. Upgrades include Honda WX15 (my back is still thanking me), built some redneck pontoons and a crashbox inspired by a moonshine pot still, thank you Discovery.

Ran for the first time at the Worth Every Penny claim this weekend. I probably should have went to the Gold and Gem show in Cincy but I was only good enough to receive a 4 hour pass on Sunday. Sorry guys.

Have some things to tweak and some things to add but overall it didn't sink, so I was very happy.

Small leak on top of the crash box - easy fix. Water is a bit bubbly, need a piece of rubber to smooth it out.
Balance was a bit off too, notice the rocks. I have an easy fix for that too I believe. And the gold - picture is crappy, I'll get another and replace this.
Stuff here seems small but it's a start.

Conversion to a 3" is complete. DIY nozzle that works pretty good and some 3" Kanaflex 155GY from Motion Industries for 3.22/ft + 10.00 shipping. http://www.motionindustries.com
They have up to 8" that is very affordable.

Just a few more tweaks and I'll be happy, for now,

Picture of gold from DoubleD to come........

See ya
Jay

Jay can you post some pictures of the nozzle you built and maybe some links to the parts you used?

And we are still waiting for the GOLD picture.

Kevin P

Yeah, I'm slacking on getting it all cleaned up. Been busy this week. Pic of gold still to come.

Pics of the nozzle, the jet and the parts are at the end.
Parts used include a 3" mandrel bend 45 in 16ga aluminized steel, a 1.5" mandrel bend 180 in 14ga aluminized steel, a 1.5" threaded pipe nipple to give me threads on the 1.5", and a short (2-3") long piece of 3/4" conduit. I used the conduit to weld over the hole inside to try and make the jet a little more efficient. Not sure if it worked as intended or not but the nozzle works pretty good.

Mandrel bends were purchased on eBay, links below.
3" mandrel bend 45 on eBay
1.5" mandrel bend 180 or J-bend on eBay

The tricky part was centering up the 3/4" hole in the middle of the 45 bend. I ended up laying it flat on a table and using a large square to measure up 1.5" and then clamping it so the discharge end was vertical on a table and measuring up 1.5". Then used a punch to get a start for a pilot hole. Then broke out the 3/4" drill bit.

Let me know if anyone has questions, it works good and it was fun to build for me. I already had most of the tools to do it, welder, squares and my father in-law had the drill bit so my investment was pretty low. Had quite a few hours of labor in it though If I had to do it over I would probably just buy one as it took a lot to get everything cut, flushed up and welded.

Later
Jay

Thanks for the info Jay. Your nozzle is as good or better than any homemade model I have seen and thought that others could benefit from seeing how it was made.

Kevin P

Jay
I found your dredge pictures really interesting. Nice to see it is working really well . Your posts are helping me with things I was curious about. I first read you got your hose from motion industries. After reading your post I tried ordering 12 ft but they called me the next day saying I need to buy 100 ft. Bummer! Tonight I was going to ask where to get a 3" dredge nozzle other than keene. Your nozzle looks very well made.
After you said how much time was involved to make it and the fact I can't weld, keene may be my best bet.
Question for anyone. Would I move a lot more material going from 2.5 to 3 inch nozzle. I'm thinking my motor and 1.5 inch pressure hoses would still work.

That stinks about the hose. When I called to order they told me 50ft but online let me order 13. I expected a call but it didn't happen. We're you trying to get 3" or a different size? Maybe I just got lucky and they already had a partial roll? Thought I was on to something there, bummer.

Here is a quick cleanup of what was in my bottle from Sunday. Click on it and it will get bigger. See ya
Jay

I was trying to order 2 1/2. Ordered some 2 1/2 from Summer rubber a couple months ago but it was really stiff. Summers had a 2 1/2 inch hose that Louie gave me a sample but they discontinued it. I 'm really thinking about 3 inch now. Maybe if I try to order 12 ft of 3" they may sent it?