fish wells drain slow

[rkearn]

I have a 91 Statos walk around 20'. The 2 fish wells are located below the deck. They are always filled with water creating added weight & stagnant water. When I'm underway I can open the drain valve & they drain very slowly. I can't use them as fish wells cause cleaning them is a ***** when they don't drain. I've tried replacing the plumbing hoses to improve drainage but it didn't help.

Is this a common problem & any ideas on how to improve?

 

[Bob's Garage]

Re: fish wells drain slow

Have you thought about increasing the size of the hoses? Since you can get to them, can you get to the fittings? If you can then making them larger should be relatively easy.

Bob

 

[RWilson2526]

Re: fish wells drain slow

does the hose that drains them go straight out to the through hull fitting and is the the through hull fitting below the bottom of the drain.....maybe you have a loop in in the hose that is acting like a drain trap? If the through hull is below the drain in the well and you can get as straight a shot to connect the two there is no reason the water should not drain.

 

[_chris_]

Re: fish wells drain slow

If they have those one way check valves inline they can get clogged up with crud, I take my garden hose and force water through and it cleaned mine out and they drain nice.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: fish wells drain slow

I have a 91 Statos walk around 20'. The 2 fish wells are located below the deck. They are always filled with water creating added weight & stagnant water. When I'm underway I can open the drain valve & they drain very slowly. I can't use them as fish wells cause cleaning them is a ***** when they don't drain. I've tried replacing the plumbing hoses to improve drainage but it didn't help.

Is this a common problem & any ideas on how to improve?

Does it drain while you're not in the water? Most older bass boat livewell automatically fill with some water when you put it in the lake. The water is coming in through the drain since the drain sits below the water line. There's not much you can do about that except plugging the drain hole or install a one way valve in-line with the drain hose. If you don't have a pump out then the only way to get rid of that water is to get off the lake. Newer livewell system have fill, drain and recirulate pump. No water until you flip the switch to fill.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: fish wells drain slow

That style of livewell is the most ill-designed piece of engineering on the planet (well -- almost anyway). And I feel your frustration. On the flip side, there is nothing more annoying than to get to the dock and have the livewell remain half full of water while you are chasing fish around trying to catch them. My solution in my last boat was to cut the drain line at the back of the boat and plug the through hull fitting. Remember, that fitting is below the water line and will sink the boat unless it's plugged. So make these modifications with the boat on a trailer or lift. I heated a threaded brass plug and screwed it into the fitting from the outside of the transom. I then installed a livewell pump with the intake of the pump connected to the drain line you just cut. The outlet of the pump takes any route overboard as long as it is well above the water line. I can now hit a switch to pump the livewells bone dry and I don't have to run around with the livewells half full of water. Works slick. If you are in an area where temps get below freezing you will need to disconnect and drain the drain otherwise trapped water will break the pump.