lithium slurry pump bag

DIY Crevice Sucker

DIY Hand Dredge

Wondering if anyone has ever made/ has experience with a DIY hand dredge? I have been watching a few vids on the tube about them, some look rather good. Wondering if they work well?

Gold and Sand Hand Dredge

I have a Gold and Sand hand dredge from U.S. which works really well. I tried to make one out of a yabby pump but was not successful so i parted with about $160 to get this one.

Hand Pump/Sucker

We have used a hand pump/sucker on several occasions. It's a home made one based off an old design using a boat bilge pump (purchased from Bias Boating) and 90mm PVC pipe. I'm in the process of building it as a backpack style unit for easy carry etc. It may cost a bit, I may even get the final tally for you but very much worth it in my humble opinion. Most areas I've used it to clean bedrock and suck crevices clean. It's a very powerful unit and has required a two man operation at times -this is why I'm converting it to a backpack. We actually caved in a brewers keg with it due to the enormous sucking power using 25mm hose. This is why we went over to the much stronger PVC pipe.

Jabsco Manual Bilge Pump

The pump itself is a Jabsco Manual Bilge Pump and they run around $130-ish.

Pump Specs

It's quoted at 100L/min (22Gal/min) which I believe to be very close. Just off hand, when I give it a full squirt she'll let fly a 1" blast of water around 12-15 feet. Once it's primed and I get a good pump or two through the PVC section the suction created is tremendous. Like I mentioned above we totally destroyed a thick-walled brewers keg when testing initially. The suction caused a massive implosion of the keg. Being mainly all plastic and rubber workings, the gravels and mud won't really harm it at all should they make their way into the pump itself. Once mounted backpack style it will be a nifty piece of equipment.

Hand Suction Crevice Pump

I am in the process of making a hand suction crevice pump, will post about the process and any pitfalls i come across.

Yabbie Pump

I made one up from a yabbie pump pretty simple, just got the angled t section which was suitable size for the pump i'll then cut a small slit in the pipe and clamped it on, some blokes use a one way valve i didn't bother. mine had a fitted on the front with a 15mm tube but i busted it sorry cant find it to include but you get the idea, probably $16 worth of plumbing. works well for crevicing

35lt pm pump

I built one of these but could only get a 35lt pm pump but still is great ! Can only imagine how well the bigger pump would suck, when I kill this pump I'll go bigger. I attached the pump to a board so you can stand/kneel on it like a skate board.

Crevice Sucker Design

Actually just made another one, will have to do a shot soon, I designed it for Spot X for the gravel, I think it's better than my last one. Will bring it up next time, thinking of putting a bolt through the bottom of the nozzle at the end, so big rocks don't block it. I have tested it and works really, really good. Am experimenting with rubber washers and some thong, after I move will be going to mates at Kallangur near where I live and we're going to grind some pipe down so I can punch out 40mm rubber, or thong, the trouble with old thongs are the variation in the thickness, I am looking for an even thickness. I have the bottom washer, then some 3mm rubber cut as best as I can with stanley knife, then the round bit of thong, then another bit of rubber just slightly smaller than the diameter of the main tube. Then another washer about 35mm allowing for the rubber and thong to extrude just bigger than the washer. At the end of the bolt that holds all of this which I glued into the bottom of the 25 mmm I think it was, plunger piece, is a wing nut, which you can tighten and lossen at the end of the day. Tighten it to squash the rubber and thong more, to give more suction, but in my experiments, just a light tighten is all I need to get, pretty awesome suction. Can't wait to try at Spot X or Spot X2. Just wanted to make one with all PVC and am quite happy with results. If I get time I'll do a video. After I move might be a while before I get the inter net on so will be offline for maybe a week or a bit more after Thur.

Rules Associated with Dredging

I hope that you folk have familiarised yourself with the rules associated with dredging. Note sure whether is applies to hand dredging or even sniffer/snuffer bottles (I doubt it), but forewarned is forearmed.

Crevice Sucker vs Hand Dredge

Yeah Pablo have got the go ahead from our Mines dept here in QLD, I can use a hand pump, so long as it's just operated by hand, all good. Best to call it a crevice sucker not a, "Hand Dredge'. The word 'Dredge'l is Taboo all over Australia.