![]() Good on fuel and burns two stroke engine oil mixed with gas. Still if you ever want to your own small compact light dredge this is your best choice. Missing a little paint and hasn't been used for a few years. Discontinued by Keene although very effective prospecting tool since it is lightweight. Thanks for offering to look for some documents but based on previous experiments with antiquated Keene equipment, they are pretty helpful so I might be able to get some info from them.Keene 1 1/2" gold dredge with engine/ water pump used for prospecting small creeks. I'll follow up here when I get this thing functional. Their total engine sales were estimated at 500,000! The local USFS Fire Station has some small backpack pumps they use for mop up, I'll stop by and see if I can get some pump ideas from them. I just discovered via Google that they also made model airplane engines. Seems like they powered all kinds of tools and equipment back in their heyday. I remember those Olson and Rice two strokes. I would have enjoyed owning a company like that but if it was for sale I don't remember and I probably couldn't have swung the deal anyway. Too bad Gold Divers closed, I think it was a positive closing, based on their retirement. No telling how it ended up with the Keene dredge but it seems to be the perfect size. I've always liked the concept of the Couple Jet nozzles although I've never used one and getting one along with this dredge is a real bonus. I'd looked at backpack dredges on Keene's website but their current models don't bear much resemblance to this vintage dredge! Now I know where it came from. I will look in my pile of old documents and see if I can find any other info on this unit. Great little sling over your back crevice sniping unit. In my opinion this dredge was ahead of its time. This was normally a suction nozzle type unit or used a Keene power jet. The small couple jet you have was made for some other dredge. ![]() Any pump currently sold to run a small dredge would do the trick. This is one of the motor and pumps for that dredge at this thread at TreasureNet. The little pump was maybe 30 gpm at most so it would not take much to replace it. If I recall correctly the tiny two stroke motor was made by Olson & Rice, pump by Keene. The pump had a square plate on the bottom that mounted on the tail end of the dredge over the sluice, in that depression where the lock tabs are. As a reminder I am getting old that is 40 years ago now. In fact one of the first gold dredges I stocked and sold as a Keene dealer was that little dredge in 1976. Since I got the dredge for free I can afford to spend some money improving it and also on a good pump.īlast from the past! The float with integrated box is a Keene 1.5" model from the mid-1970's. Possibly Gold Divers made a backpack dredge and it's one of theirs? Sure appreciate any comments or suggestions for a pump or a picture of a complete dredge from this unknown manufacturer. The overall dimensions are about 2 feet by 3 feet, the bottom is completely flat and not pontoon shaped like the Packrat dredges. I checked with the guys who now make the Packrat 2 dredge and they didn't recognize this dredge. I understand, but not for sure, that the Couple Jet or Infinity type of nozzles work best with a higher volume lower pressure pump, as opposed to suction or jet nozzles that work best with higher pressure and somewhat lower flow. The dredge didn't come with an engine or pump and I'm trying to figure out what would be the best pump/engine to get for it. It came with a nifty little "Couple Jet" nozzle made by Gold Divers, Inc., formerly of Mound House, NV, but now out of business and retired. A friend gave me this little backpack dredge.
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