I have collected a bunch of those ultra-strong magnets from old hard drives (yes, there are ultra-strong magnets in hard drives) and attached them to a hunk of aluminum, which in turn I've attached to a long nylon rope. It's very compact and very powerful.

On dry land, this thing can lift a table saw off the ground, in water it can do even better.

Well, my son an I will be taking this thing to the boat ramp on the Delaware river this weekend and tossing it in and dragging it back to shore. I know I have at least 1 set of keys in there, and who knows what else.

Hmm, in the Delaware, I would almost be scared of what you might dredge up. If you find a big metal skull, I'd throw that back.

Martin, just how many dead HDDs did you loot for those?

Pics? Please? It sounds cool.

If ya find my old mans wallet let me know... and my keys... and my leatherman... and my camelback... had an accident down there few years back when overstimulated puppy (70 lbs) overturned the canoe

I just had a "vision". Two people desperately pulling on one end of a line while the magnet on the other end is stuck to a sunken car.

Dang CAP,

You beat me to it !!

LW

You should be concerned about what you 'may' find...during my SCUBA certification one of the students came up with (IIRC) a shotgun and a body.....it was off the Brooklyn NY coast....that was a memorable day.....I can't imagine what that kind of magnet will pull up.......keep us posted....

The trip did NOT happen due to complexities of schedules and stuff, but I expect things to go soon.

Sounds like fun.

You should consider getting a metal detector for working on dry land.

I have paid for my detector many times over from coins and jewelry finds.

Give that my "spare time" amounts to exactly 3 hours per weekend (Saturdays, noon to 3) and my weekly allowance is $22, it's not gonna happen. I have no time for any hobbies or interests anymore.

I never used a magnet for this purpose (most of the time the water was merely ankle to knee high) but I would find all kinds of stuff in a small creek at my local park. Screwdrivers, pocketknives, keys, tools, coins, bottle openers, the list went on and on. It was like everyone's tools and spare change ran away from home and jumped in the creek to go swim. Some were bad beyond repair but others I could get with a scour pad and some 3 in 1 oil and they'd be almost as good as new.

Whenever you get the chance to "magnet fish" give us an update and tell us how it went. Good luck, have fun, and stay safe!