Any Old boat livewell idea?

[Black Max]

I plan on fishing some local bass tournaments in my old pride and joy 1976 Hydra-sport tri hull bass boat. I need to prepare it with the necessary tournament requirements. Trying to get my livewell in working order just need some input. The existing livewell is a built in fiberglass with interior coating of gel coat, which has about a six inch crack at the bottom. How should I repair the crack? just sand back the gel coat and lay some glass, there's no way of glassing both sides. Also the previous system for aerating and filling the tank is outdated. To fill the tank you have to pull the plug at the bottom drain which allows water to run thru a 2 foot long hose that is connected to a thru-hull fitting next to the rear boat drain plug, when the desired amount of water is in you have to replace the plug. (This is a horrible method, which doesn't allow the tank to be refreshed with new water.) Any ideas of a new system. Considered using a bilge pump with a valve and some 1/2 pvc to aerate the tank. The rear plug area doesn't allow room for the installation of a thru-hull aerator pump. How will I fill the tank and be able to pump it out and aerate it? In desperate need of some ideas, I been in a state of confusion over it for almost a year now. Help.

 

[prockvoan]

Re: Any Old boat livewell idea?

First off,your repair for that crack.Yes,sand down to the fiberglass as you stated,then glass over.Note*,over lap the crack by 3"+ in all directions.<br />Your drain line-fill line.You should have a overflow line if not add one.Install a airation pump,one that puts out around 750 gph.For that,your over flow line will need to be a 1 1/8" line.And a timer to that pump and you should be good to go!

 

[Black Max]

Re: Any Old boat livewell idea?

since the rear of the boat doesn't allow sufficient room to install a thru hull aerator, should I try to install it through the drain hose at the bottom of the livewell. Will this allow water in when needed, while keeping water out of tank when not in use. Do any aerators have a pump out unit built into the aeration pump or do I need a seperate unit for that.

 

[prockvoan]

Re: Any Old boat livewell idea?

There are different types of aerator pumps,what about adding a sea scoop thru the bottom of the hull.

 

[Clamboni]

Re: Any Old boat livewell idea?

You can use a bilge pump, just don't permanently attach it inside the livewell so you can hang it overboard to fill the tank. What about the existing thru hull? Can you use that hole to install a pump if oyu pull out the thru hull? you'd have to run a new drain, I don't know if you have enough room to do that, but you can go through the side with the drain or the pump if you can get to it. Hard to tell what you can do without pics of the boat though.

 

[Black Max]

Re: Any Old boat livewell idea?

I think I might have the perfect idea due to the responses. It may be hard to understand , but in my mind it should work good for my application, thanks. What if I take a bilge pump and mount it next to the outboard below the water line(or inside the jack-plate if I get one) with a hose running into the upper portion of the tank under the deck. This would be the method of filling the tank. To aerate it I might mount an aerator inside the tank and run some 1/2 inch PVC from the output of the pump to a 3 way pvc connector, with one side of the three way to a 2 way valve then to a pump out hose that will be connected to a thru hull that I mounted above the waterline at the rear of the boat. Another pipe from the 3 way will have 1/2 pvc with slots about every inch, used as the aeration headsrunning in a complete square around the tank. To pump out the water I could just open the valve, sending water in both directions and likewise out the thru hull.

 

[prockvoan]

Re: Any Old boat livewell idea?

Watch out the way you install a drain line above the water line out thru the transom.If your motor has any spray that shoots up when under way,it will back up thru that drain line.

 

[Clamboni]

Re: Any Old boat livewell idea?

I don't think I would mount the bilge pump outside the hull. might get ripped off with the water flowing by. I would think it would create a lot of resistance. Like I said before, you can just mount it inside the livewell so it's easy to get out and then hang it overboard to fill it. I'm in a jon boat bass club and most of the guys just use coolers as livewells. That's what they do, I used to do the same thing. You could either have an extra length of hose so it's long enough to reach the livewell, or just leave the hose from the pump to the spraybar long enough. once the livewell is full, just put the pump back in. A system like that is actually better for the fish anyway as long as its not too small. You can do more to treat the water and keep the fish healthy if you're not constantly adding new water. The water also stays cooler, which will benefit the fish too, if you fill it in the beginning of the day. Also, use 3/4 pvc for the spraybar, so you don't restrict the flow too much, not 1/2. Start with 3/32 or 1/8 holes and work your way up if you don't flow enough water, adding more holes of the same size is better than bigger holes. Be careful to make the holes as straight as possible so you're not spraying water all in all different directions.