My new 2" back pack dredge

Dick when I get them Ill be driving back home after another stop to buy another air regulator and hose , then the long drive back home 12/13 hours. No party time this time!

I went to the Nashville gold and gem show and decided to break down and buy me some Gold Hogg mats. Scrubber and Talon according to Doc and some other people said the same thing. So here's a little vid of what I did. Also need some input about pontoon air pressure???? I have no ideal..

Good report John!!

John after re-viewing this thread I did some looking at my 2 inch dredges and their bungee cord attachment. I found that if you crimp the inner bungee cord hook on all the cords youll eliminate the loss of the cord when the tube loses air pressure. and you are correct in that the tubes need to be evenly filled. your floatation inlet valves are slightly different than mine. but your thoughts of the air pressure are correct. The amount of air in the tube needs to be even on both sides as you stated. I don't know what pressure the tubes require , but when you get it into a stream or creek , you can see how it floats and adjust from there.  If you ever get around to it let me know at what air pressure works the best for you. I talked to Mark Keene about these floats and he said (my floats) you blow them up with your mouth , not a shreader valve like you have so I cant check the A.P. with my low pressure gauge. I guess I could always change the floats with the other set I have that do have the shreader valve . and I finnaly did buy somemore Gold Hog mat for the Keene 4 inch dredge that I bought last Fall. Now both my 2 in. & my 4 in dredges will have G.H. mats. AND it don't hurt to carry a spare bungee cord (incase)

John,

Thanks for the video and info...

Hope it all works out well...  My only comment to consider might be.............that with the smooth flowing, run clean GH matting in your sluice box...........you might NOT need or want the metal rock screens on top, over the GH matting after all.

When I converted my 4 inch Keene ultra mini dredge sluice box over I made rock screens when I had the Vortex mat installed.

The GH matting had deeper collection grooves, so I totally removed the rock screens on top to just allow the rocks..........and finer material and black sand to wash out the back.  With almost 7 feet of length, I needed to keep the rocks tumbling.  When I tried the screens and 7 feet with Vortex below last year, the rocks often piled up on top, eventually sunk the back of the box under water.

The fine mesh rock screens you have MIGHT stifle too much velocity and water flow to allow the GH matting riffles to exchange, work well....

MAYBE to some test runs:

1).  Run for 1 or 2 hours with the screens installed.  Clean up.
2).  Run for 1 to 2 hours without the screens.  Clean up.

Pan the cons separately.  Pan the tailings too.

See what actually works best...

Randy  C-17A  

I agree randy! I had (previously posted) put the GH mats in my 2 inch Keene dredge also and now Ive just cut/fitted my 4 inch Keene dredge also with GH mats and NO screens! It wont need them according to Doc and the guy on Docs video using his 4 inch Keene dredge = NO DREDGE TENDER!!