4" Proline, box mods setup?

[WildernessAU]

Moving on up........on work and stuff to store but this baby's nice! I got a like new 4" proline floats, frame, box, jet and flare that I am going to adapt to my existing 5.5-6hp honda motor and p180 pump.
This is the first Proline I have seen, and it really looks nice and solid. The nomad in the box is a bit crusty and a section of shallow v matting is missing so I am thinking of replacing all of the matting in the box. I may be able to pressure wash the nomad...
I want to set up the box to maximize capture of Arkansas river fines....I get into some slightly larger pieces elsewhere but nothing over .25 gram so far. I may want to make this box an undercurrent if it is worthwhile and I have enough flow from the p180 pump, but that will probably be over the winter.
How should I outfit this box for fines recovery? Do you guys have any experience or suggestions?
Thanks, Dainis

[russau]

your using the same eng/pump combo i have. for the lower sluice,since your not going to find anything big, id set it up with ribbed carpetting (i have miners moss,but its comeing out)with 1/4 inch raised expanded over it. i also have about 14 inchs of slick plate before the carpet/expanded. i use a 3/16 s.s. punch plate for my screen for going into the lower sluice . on the upper sluice, id just leave it as is. your not expecting any bigger gold on that river anyway.so just incase you go somewhere that does have chunky gold, youll be set.just my opinion!

[Flourchild]

Here are some pics of my undercurrent project on my 4" starting from the top working down to show you the setup. I went with a scalping plate(inspection plate) section under the 1/4" punch plate to be able to remove the plate and do a quick check for color without disassembling the whole box. I used the bottom of a milk crate with ribbed matting under that for the scalping plate I've found that no slick plate is really needed in the under box and also went with 1 3/4" X 1" aluminum expanded to keep the expanded from loading up. I used .063 aluminum plate for the divider plate between levels in the box and used (3) 3/4" aluminum angles riveted to the divider plate giving me 3/4" of space in the under current section. The upper box was left as is not much needed there. I used the stock latch system to hold everything down just had to drill 2 holes a little higher in front of the box for the higher riffle and just Dremel tooled the original latch plate so the latches pulled down the riffles tight enough to sandwich it all together. This setup has proved to be a real fine gold catcher as most of my dredging is for glacial flypoop Ohio gold but I miss very little hope this helps.
Bill

[WildernessAU]

Bill thanks for the write up and pics, it gives me better idea of what is involved and I am mainly after that flour gold.

Now the biggest question I have is how big of a opening to have to feed the under sluice.... to have enough water for the bottom and top box? It seems that this would be very important for proper clearing.

side question; I am more than likely getting kanaflex 110 suction hose and still need to find a 5-6ft piece of hose to run from the pump outlet to the jet. Would the same kana110 in a smaller id work for this? or do I need a higher pressure rating?
Thanks, Dainis

[Gold Seeker]

Dainis,

Go to Keene's "resources" page and click on the "4" Dredge Guide" PDF file at the bottom of the page, it show a cut away view of the 3 stage sluice on page 3 of the PDF file, it has an adjustable (sliding) flow separator plate that controls the flow to the lower sluice.

Here is a link, click on the "resources" link to the left side of this page.

http://www.keeneeng.com/


Skip

[Flourchild]

Dennis, I would go with 3/4" spacing in the under sluice with no more than 5/16" punch plate I get a perfect flow in both the upper and lower boxes with 3/4"spacing. I would try to keep the length of the punch plate to the first riffle around 10" I have experimented with both longer and shorter and 10" seems to be the happiest medium with 1/4" holes in the plate . I would also like to give credit where it's do Mr. Reed lukens for sharing his setup with us on another forum as this is where I got the idea from thanks Reed for all your help .

[WildernessAU]

Here is the link for that build. Def a good one. Now we can have both in one place.

http://www.49ermike.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=181&topic_id=60005&mesg_id=60005&page=

So I need a suction hose for the 4" proline....and it has to work with the sure flow coupler.....which I need to order.
I'm thinking 18-ft of kanaflex 110CL,112CL or 155GY. are either of these better? The GY is more flexible but I think durability may be more important.

The hose I got on my 3" keene combo afew years ago is green and looks like the 155GY.........works great is flexible, but the side walls are really soft.....I allready have a few pinprick holes...
For the 155gy kanaflex website says :"Applications: Heavy duty blower and ducting hose with increased flexibility for use on gold dredging equipment, mulch blowing, and many other applications."

What do you guys think is the best durable dredge hose?
Dainis

[Hoser John]

KANAFLEX 110 OR NUTTN'- good for 20+ years when treated right and NEVER keene crappola,paper thin junk collapses in any current,crushes easily, and flat don't last for sour owl shat. K-110 has been the industry standard for over 35 years I know of and can NOT be beat for flex,vision through,uv protection,tough as LL and ease of handling. I've sold many a mile a that righteous product. Easily found in ag houses,hose suppliers,farmers supplies and good dredge dealers all over the world-can ya tell I like the stuff???John

[WildernessAU]

I ordered a sure flow coupler from proline today. Jeff sure is talkative and helpful. One interesting thing he mentioned about matting was that as long as the riffles/expanded hold down tight, only unbacked moss should be used in the box....for it to clear properly...and the heavies will be kept from migrating from the pressure of the riffles being held down on the bottom of the box.....

The sure flow coupler is threaded for a right hand thread hose. It is made specifically to work with Pacific Echo 194/195 which has raised exterior ribs....the coupler screws onto the hose..

I couldn't get a clear answer if Kana110 will fit snugly into the coupler.. the 110 is also right hand thread but appears much smoother on the outside. and has a outer hose diameter of 4.50" PacEcho 195 od is 4.56.......so it's pretty close.

Should be able to make it work but would like to know for sure prior ordering hose. I don't have any local dealers.

John, do you know if k110 will be a good fit in the coupler? will it need to be glued on?

Thanks again for all your help guys.
D

[trick]

Hey Dainis, the hose i have on my 4" is kanaline SR and i guarantee that it will not get punctured or worn through in the next 20 years. the drawback is flexibility and weight.