The standard highbanker design is a straight aluminum hopper with spray bars and a short grizzly at the back, with no capture up top.

Material then drops into the crash box pooling area (upper end of the sluice) where it stratifies and then flows down the sluice where gold settles into some type of capture medium (an example would be expanded metal over miner's moss or rubber matting).

Without mentioning any brand names of matting or highbankers - what are some mods you have made to your highbanker(s) to make them work better for your area or material type?

I'll start:

High capacity bucket hopper (5 gal bucket or Rubbermaid garbage bin, cut in half lengthwise): focuses material and water into the center, enabling me to get away with using a smaller pump (1" Honda gas pump or 2,000 GPH bilge pump 12V). Also saves me from having to buy a TIG welder for aluminum ; )

Ribbed carpet in hopper (sound dampening) - makes it way quieter compared to dropping material in on bare aluminum or steel.

Extra steep and long grizzly (metal mesh of interchangeable sizes 1/2", 1/4" , or 1/8" depending on gold size) with adjustable angle so the grizzly auto-clears. Just drop shovels at the top of the hopper, and walk away to get your next shovel while the water peels away the material for you.

3/4" PVC sluice stand: a bit flimsy, but it's super lightweight, totally adjustable and enables me to bring a bigger hopper and sluice into the field for higher production.

Lightweight sluice extension on the ground - made from plastic boot trays and dollar store black ribbed carpet. It hangs on to flour gold like crazy while clearing black sand efficiently. Some guys might laugh, but one day I'll catch their highbanker tailings and split the gold with them ; )

Let's hear yours!

-Pickaxe