Livewell questions

[JABBO]

Just purchased a 2007 Crappie Master. Need to know how the live wells operate. Front live well starboard and rear live well port side. There are 2 cable switches at the driver location for both. Recirculate and pump out. Also at the driver location is a live well "recirculate" auto or manual. Then on the front of the boat there's a "fill live well" switch. Then if you skip over one switch there's a "port/off/starboard" switch(not sure if this goes with them but what else could it go to). Today we could get the rear live well to fill alittle but then had to fill the rest of the way with the "recirculate manual" switch. I could turn on the "fill live well" switch at front and we could hear a motor running but nothing happened. Just need to know how these are supposed to work so I can start working on them if need be...Also, it took awhile for the water to drain out of the rear live well once we were back at home. Is there a way to pump it out with my set-up??? Also, there are 4 holes on each live well...Thanks!

 

[JABBO]

Re: Livewell questions

Anybody???

 

[Capt Sully]

Re: Livewell questions

Did you check the lines to see if they are clogged up ??? if you can, try running a snake thru them.

 

[JABBO]

Re: Livewell questions

No, not yet. Will do when I get home. I was really wanting to know 1. Do both live wells fill at the same time? 2. I'm assuming since there is only one recirculate switch that it works for both tanks also? 3. Does this boat have a pumpout or is it just drain? Does the "port/starboard" switch on the bow go with the live wells? Thanks!

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Livewell questions

Unless some one has the exact same boat its hard to answer, their so many ways it is done, Its one of those things you will have to work out, or call a local dealer of the manufacturer.
On mine I have a separate fill pump, and a closed circuit reculator pump. A lot of manufacturer`s come up with some inventive ways to cut costs and use less pumps.

 

[TyeeMan]

Re: Livewell questions

Who makes the Crappie Master? As others have said there are a bunch of ways that different manufacturers operate there live wells, I'll take a stab at this one.
First, check your spray heads in your each live well. Some mfgrs such as my Lund have adjustable spray heads i.e, you can turn the knob on the head and make for a fine spray, powerfull spray, or turn it closed completely, that could be why your one well didn't fill.

 

[TyeeMan]

Re: Livewell questions

Oops, hit some button too soon. Read the continuation of the previous post please, ,

Recirculate and pump out should be just that. In the recirc position your pump should just recirculate the water in each well. In the pump out position the pumps should pump put the live well.
You may have to have the switch in the recirculate positon in order to use the fill switch to fill the wells.
The recirculate "auto/manual" , , , likely in the manual position the pump will run constantly. In the auto mode it is a preset timed pump operation, like 30 seconds on/ 30 seconds off.
You said your rear well took a long time to drain out. Try switching the recirc/pump out switch to the pump out position, turn the pump on and see what happens.

Each livewell should have 1 or 2 drains that dump out the side of the boat, these will be about 1.5 inches in diameter and will be at or close to the highest point in the live well.
The other two, , one could be a fill port, one could be a recirculate port. Just guessing there.

Yeah maybe your dealer could help you better there.

Hope that helps some.

 

[redfury]

Re: Livewell questions

Generally speaking a live well is going to have a drain, a fill and an overfill minimum. The overfill will usually dump out the side of the boat, the drain will usually drain out the back of the boat and the fill will draw water in from the rear of the boat through a screened inlet. You would have a pump for filling with a one way check valve to prevent water from siphoning back through the pump if you used a recirculation pump on the fill hose and then you'd have a second "drain" location with a screen or something to prevent your catch from getting stuck into the suction end. That would feed the recirculation pump.

It's always possible that you have a blockage or leakage from one of the hoses going to the live well...you'd be able to figure that out pretty quick if the bilge area got wet after using it. It's possible for a mouse to find its way into the hoses or other debris, and if the pumps were run dry, they could just be damaged to the point where you can hear them run, but they can't pump water because the impeller is shot. Anyone that's ever dealt with aquariums for any length of time has run across a bad pump impeller.

 

[JABBO]

Re: Livewell questions

Ok, here is what I've come up with. It's pretty obvious to me that the system has been altered(I think). There are two inlet holes at the bottom of the transom with screens on them. One on either side of the motor. Both have Attwood 500s on them. The right one goes to the front livewell only. The left one goes to the back livewell only. Both livewells have two drains(one overflow and one bottom drain). Then the boat has got a "Pro-air" system on it. But I don't know if it was on the boat when it was new and here's why I say that. On the bow there is a "fill livewell" switch and thats the only one in the boat. And as I mentioned in my earlier post there is also a switch on the front that says "port/starboard". This switch could of originally been to switch the "fill livewell" from one well to the other but I'm not sure. Can't get that switch to do anything really. Both livewells have the pro-air hooked to them and it works.

What I would like to have is when I hit "fill livewell", whichever livewell I've got the switch set to(port or starboard), it fills(using just one pump). I would also like to add pumps to pump out the water. Now I'm not sure on the "recirculate manual/auto". I would think that if I was only using one livewell, I would only want to recirculate that livewell only right? So this would have to be tied into the "port/starboard" switch also... Would really like to hear some opinions/feedback on how other boat's livewells operate to give me an idea as to what I need to set up. Thanks and sorry so long!!!!

 

[JABBO]

Re: Livewell questions

Also, one of the Attwoods is not pumping water but the impellar is turning. Should I get a replacement cartrigde and try it or is there something else going on. I hooked my hose to the inlet and water goes right in livewell. Just wont pump.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Livewell questions

Could be a jammed impeller from derbies, and if not then a new one will fix your right up.

 

[JABBO]

Re: Livewell questions

Impellar is not jammed because I took it out as it was running and it looked good. But do I need to change out the whole thing or just the cartridge??? What if the housing is cracked where I can't see the bottom. What is normally wrong in this situation with these things????

 

[JABBO]

Re: Livewell questions

Will an Attwood T500 be enough for 2 livewells?