how to and where to install a livewell

toey77

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Messages
158
i have been searching through pages and pages to find pictures of how people have installed there livewells and also where. I was thinking in my floor as I have a half cabin boat, I have never seen or been near a boat with a livewell but I want to install one into my boat so I am asking for info and pics for ideas on how to go about this, and also on how to install the plumbing if needed for this

Thanks heaps for your help
 

redfury

Commander
Joined
Jul 16, 2006
Messages
2,655
Re: how to and where to install a livewell

No specifics yet, but I plan to install a livewell in my boat when I get to that stage.

Livewells need 3 things. A box for the livewell, a drain and a way to get water into it. It gets more complicated than that, but those are the basics.

You should try to avoid corners where the fish will get into and start bumping their heads into them, so rounding the corners is preferred....unless you never plan to throw a fish back, then it doesn't matter.

You want to have two drains on the livewell. One for draining the water out, and one to drain water when the water level gets too high if you forget to turn the fill switch off...don't want to swamp your boat, right?

You can put in recirculation pumps, aerators, lights and all sorts of fancy stuff...all depends on how long you need the fish to last in the livewell. The more important part IMHO is insulating the livewell to keep the water from getting too hot.

Placement all depends on your boat, and where you can feasibly place it and the plumbing. Size matters also. If all you are planning to keep in there are sunfish and bass, it doesn't have to be very long. Throw in a northern, and then you need a much larger livewell.

Then there is the idea of using it for bait as well. You can keep your bait alive and convenient if you build a baitwell into the livewell! There are bucket style bait holders that drop in from the top and allow water to get in from the bottom of the bucket. Need bait? pull the bucket up, drain some water and scoop out what you need, then put them back! I plan to do this just so I can keep suckers alive longer.

Lots of pics on google, and I'm sure a few here will chime in also.
 

toey77

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Messages
158
Re: how to and where to install a livewell

thanks for the ideas now i just need to see some so i know where i stand on the idea
 
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