Have you ever found survey gear?

Drilldo, post: 367828, member: 8604 wrote: We were working in Reeves county today and found two Trimble R8 battery packs. They were a few hundred feet apart. How my guys spotted them I don't know. Have not charged them yet to see if they are any good who knows they may be bad and someone pitched them. Strange to find those in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah, I find RTK bases all the time. The batteries are usually still charged, too!

Next door to where I live now was previously surveyed by a local surveyor that I worked with briefly before he retired (his business was bought out by the LS I worked for at the time). I was buying a portion of the piece next door, rerunning his traverses with his old field notes and found a plump bob with a gammon reel on one of the traverse lines. It still worked, despite the lack of charged batteries.

Found a chaining pin while running line once in the sagebrush outside of Virginia City, MT. Found 2 different pocket tapes beside pins out in the woods. Also found a handheld radio on one of the same projects as one of the pocket tapes.

I would hope any of us finding recently abandoned equipment would attempt to return it to its owner.

Somewhere out in the Great Salt Plains in Northern Oklahoma there is a digital level battery, lost by yours truly in 1996. If anybody finds it, feel free to keep it.

One interesting find that comes to mind was out east of Norman, by our water supply reservoir constructed in 1965. On one of the Corps lines we found a machete blade, sans a handle, and grown over most of the way in a hackberry tree. I'm pretty sure it was from their 1966 survey. We left it there. 😉

paden cash, post: 367839, member: 20 wrote: I would hope any of us finding recently abandoned equipment would attempt to return it to its owner

I've heard that advertising it on eBay is a very good way to try to get in contact with its rightful owner. Don't post the serial numbers, though. Make them tell you what they think they are. As I understand it, asking if there is a reward is completely acceptable. I mean anyone who had REALLY lost an RTK base would be willing to pay one, wouldn't you think? It's another way to filter out the scammers and the folks who only SAY they left an RTK base where you found it.

Rock hammer, right where I left it, 8 years earlier. Now I have two.

I've found a 3-lb sledge and a pencil.....right where I left them a few years earlier (separate jobs)

Once though, I was in the bed of a very wide creek. There was a sand bar in the middle of it which had some lowland trees growing on it. I saw a yellow tripod just hanging out a few hundred feet from me.

I wen't over to it, and yup, it was a tripod with a topcon tribrach on it. The tripod had anchored itself into the sandbar pretty well somehow, and had flood debris wrapped around the legs. The tribrach was covered in a nice serving of flood mud. I took the tribrach and was able to use the level bubble still if I remember correctly.

If anyone needs a crow bar I can give you the address. It's at the bottom of a sanitary manhole

I found a 100' steel tape (chain, as we used to call them) at a concrete bound while doing a retracement survey. This was a Corps job and the boundary was re-run every 19 years. I assume it was left by the previous crew 19 years previously. It still "threw" just fine, even though the batteries were missing.

Dtp

I once found a laser level case on the side of the road next to a swamp. The case was open with nothing inside. The owner's name was on the box, so we called and he said the laser must be in the water somewhere near the box. It bounced out of a pickup truck (building contractor) while rounding a curve. He thought it had been stolen.

Also found a joe blade in the woods next to a property corner one time.

I found a Trimble VRS GPS rover with data collector once while on my way home. Complete with pole and bipod. I saw it set up about 25' behind some c&g. I had to take a double look. Went back and parked near it. I had a pretty good idea who owned it. I called them up and left a message with the secretary. 5 minutes later, their survey manager called me back. "You found what?!...."

Turned out to be theirs...

Waaaaaaay back in the woods in a cedar swamp, on a 40 that was chopped into 10s a long time ago, I was retracing a line, brushing it open and when I got to the NE corner I found a prism pile jammed in the ground behind the old pipe that was the corner. There were not really any companies that regularly work this area, so I took it home. It was a twist lock and rusted pretty good. Soaked it in marvins magic mystery oil to get it freed up. Bubble was still good, prism was fine, but sunfaded. I don't care for twist locks, but still use it as a extra or backup when needed. That you.... whoever you were.

toivo1037, post: 367884, member: 973 wrote: ...Thank you.... whoever you were.

Finding 4' backsight poles use to be pretty common. Not so much anymore...

Finding survey gear out in the woods is how TDD got started

I kept dropping an orange painted Pentel 0.5mm mechanical pencil in 1988 during a 50-mile route survey in Iowa. Since we had to first prelim the route and then later go back and do various staking for construction, I kept miraculously refinding it in cornfields, tall grass, etc., against odds since the area covered by the survey was so large.

I considered it my lucky pencil. I took an passed the SIT exam with it in 1992 with it and then the LS exam in 1994. I still have it today.

I found a tripod with topcon tribach and prism at the edge of the gravel shoulder on a state highway about 5 years ago. It didn't just tip over as it was a bit banged up but the tribrach still worked and was still in adjustment! I thought that was pretty amazing because I'm thinking it fell off or out of a vehicle. Maybe open tailgate on a pickup and by the time they discovered it missing they were way to far to turn around. I had an idea of who its owners were - a company from 325 miles away who dropped into town to do a quicky ALTA survey. I called them and they confirmed that they had a job in town and they would get back to me if the crew reported any missing equipment. I gave them my phone number and address and said they could pick it up the next time they were in town. That was 5 years ago... I never heard from them. I would have even sent the tribrach and prism back to them but they never called. I do know they lost their butt on that job because I got to do the next part of the project! Their problem was that from Chicago, they couldn't tell that the wooded parcel of about 25 acres they had to topo was an old gravel pit. Did you ever try to topo an old gravel pit grown up in brush and trees? Absolutely miserable! The neighbor said he talked to the crew. They budgeted 4 days to do the entire project. It took them 9 days. Steep spoil piles, water holes, sharp drop-offs, etc, all thickly vegetated. Losing so much mony on that job, they certainly weren't gonna drive back to retrieve not real valuable equipment. I'm thinking they just reported a loss to their insurance company. I ended up tossing the tripod and ebaying the tribrach and prism.

Dave Tlusty, post: 367893, member: 311 wrote: I'm thinking they just reported a loss to their insurance company.

I wouldn't even consider filing an insurance claim for a tripod, tribrach and prism; I reserve those for high-dollar losses. Filing little claims seems like a good way to get premiums raised or policies canceled.

Dave Tlusty, post: 367893, member: 311 wrote: Their problem was that from Chicago, they couldn't tell that the wooded parcel of about 25 acres they had to topo was an old gravel pit. Did you ever try to topo an old gravel pit grown up in brush and trees? Absolutely miserable!

You're right about that! It's the worst!

I've found a broken 300' fiberglass tape before....

Jim Frame, post: 367895, member: 10 wrote: I wouldn't even consider filing an insurance claim for a tripod, tribrach and prism; I reserve those for high-dollar losses. Filing little claims seems like a good way to get premiums raised or policies canceled.

I agree. I don't file little claims, in fact, I've only filed one major claim in 34 years.

"I'm thinking they just reported a loss to their insurance company." I simply offered that as a possibility.