1985 Starcraft livewell plumbing

EchoNovember

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Moderators: If this is in the wrong area, sorry. Please move the thread if I posted it in the wrong spot. Thanks!

I have a 1985 Starcraft SS 160 that came with a livewell that has two holes, one on the bottom in the port aft corner and a matching hole in the deck, and one on the port side near the bottom, with a hole in the deck indicating a 90 degree connector would be used to connect to the plumbing. The boat has a livewell switch on the helm, and a disconnected livewell pump at the stern, near the drain plug. There is a silicone filled fitting on the transom, off center on the port side, below the waterline. and what may be a patched over hole in the transom on the starboard side, near the bottom of the boat. I am trying to figure out how to plumb the livewell up using the two holes in the livewell, and how to connect them to the transom. I will be pulling out the gas tanks and battery to get a better view of the inside of the repaired/patched spot to see if it used to be a drain hole for the livewell. I'm willing to drill a new hole if needed.

It's a stepped welded aluminum livewell with the opening on the highest step, which is also a seat mount. The shorter step is the driver's seat.

I need to know:

How were these originally plumbed?
How do I set up a water intake?
How do I set up an overflow drain?
Do I set this up as a recirculating system? If so, how?
Anything else needed to get the livewell usable again to keep fish alive until I get to shore.

I have a family camping and fishing trip in ten days, and I have motor issues to fix (separate thread). Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

Jcris

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Hey Ech,
You've prolly already done this but try Googling it. That will give you a layout
 

EchoNovember

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Hey Ech,
You've prolly already done this but try Googling it. That will give you a layout

Google led me to lots of generic livewell layouts, and the looney bin. Everything Google showed me required 3 holes in the livewell - intake, drain, overflow. I can't find anything about my livewell and how it was originally plumbed.
 

EchoNovember

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No Title

This was the closest thing I could find on how to plumb it. I would need to find that overflow standpipe/drain combo, though. And use a 90 degree elbow to get the intake up to an aeration bar. If I'm going to cram it full of fish, I want them to live as long as possible, which will likely include an air stone bar from the pet store hooked to a 12v air pump. Lol. Where we're going, that livewell will end up full of perch, and hopefully some bass and walleye, too!
 

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Jcris

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I'll take a look at my boat. But I'm sure it has three hoses
 

EchoNovember

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Do you have an 80s Starcraft? If so, I would LOVE to get pictures of how it's plumbed.

The three tube plumbing is easy to figure out. I just don't want to do drill holes and add cost when I don't need to.
 

Jcris

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Hello Ech,
I have a 1996 Glastron I/O. I tried yesterday to snap a couple pic's of my set up but it's very difficult to"see" in the bilge area. Perhaps you could post some pic's of your boat so others here might lend their experience? I will look online again today and forward any good links that may come along
Also,
I re-read your first post and thought maybe the previous owner had some kind of leak with the existing set up? Seems likely that's why it's all disconnected.. Can you test the well to see if it holds water?
 
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EchoNovember

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The previous owner used it for skiing and tubing. The owner before him disconnected it for reasons unknown to me.

It's a welded tank, but yeah, I'll pull it out, plug the holes, and fill it.

My work computer wouldn't let me access my Google drive where the pics were stored. I'll see about getting photos up today.
 

EchoNovember

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EchoNovember

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These photos may be easier to see.

The lid is under a seat. I like it, saves on space.

image_268284.jpg

The drain hole is in at the rear of the livewell, port side. The hole goes through the deck as well.

image_268283.jpg

It's a stepped design, the driver seat is over the forward part of the livewell.

image_268288.jpg

These holes tell me it's a 90 degree connector to go from the plumbing under the deck to the bilge. I've seen no evidence of any plumbing lines still installed, though.

image_268286.jpg

The livewell pump and the inlet from the transom were capped off by a PO. Going to replace the pump as I don't think it works anymore.

image_268287.jpg

Another view. You can also see the transom I'm going to be replacing. Side note, down here it seems like the proper thickness. However, it seems not thick enough up higher, above the splashwell.

image_268285.jpg

When I replace the transom and while I have the splashwell off I'll be pulling the battery as well and seeing if it looks like a hole from a livewell drain was patched up, or if it was from damage due to an impact with something.
 

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Jcris

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Ech,
Whats your plan for the repair?
I'm surprised others haven't chimed in.
 

Old Ironmaker

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I just found this thread. I don't think you got many replies because this is the fishing forum. Very related but would have got more input from the Boat Topics and Questions forum. I am sure your trip is done. Hope you slammed them.

We rebuilt a 1985 19 foot StarCraft last year, very similar to yours looking at the transom area. We ripped out all the lines and sure enough the filler line was split as was the pumps. Maybe from not winterizing it correctly. If you got the well going great if not let us know and we can go from there. I would ask a mod. to move this thread to the Boat Topics and Questions forum.

To tell you the truth we don't use our live wells much anymore. Especially for Perch and Pickerel. With the very warm surface water on Lake Erie we find they are basically being poached even when on recirculation mode. Now we fill a dozen or more 750 ML bottles of water for each live well. Put the fish under the ice bottles, when you need a drink of water you have a nice freezie.
 
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EchoNovember

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May 25, 2017
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I just found this thread. I don't think you got many replies because this is the fishing forum. Very related but would have got more input from the Boat Topics and Questions forum. I am sure your trip is done. Hope you slammed them.

We rebuilt a 1985 19 foot StarCraft last year, very similar to yours looking at the transom area. We ripped out all the lines and sure enough the filler line was split as was the pumps. Maybe from not winterizing it correctly. If you got the well going great if not let us know and we can go from there. I would ask a mod. to move this thread to the Boat Topics and Questions forum.

To tell you the truth we don't use our live wells much anymore. Especially for Perch and Pickerel. With the very warm surface water on Lake Erie we find they are basically being poached even when on recirculation mode. Now we fill a dozen or more 750 ML bottles of water for each live well. Put the fish under the ice bottles, when you need a drink of water you have a nice freezie.
We didn't get to take the boat, and surprisingly we did catch anything. :-(

I bought a new pump, lowest pump capacity I could find, which was 500 GPH, so I don't flood the livewell. Rigged up a sprayer bar and overflow drain, and discovered I needed a larger diameter drain than I thought I would. Out of boat testing passes, with the sprayer bar on providing restricting to the flow rate, and the water level about 1/4 of the way up the drain strainer, the drain keeps up with the pumped in water. I had a smaller drain initially, but the water level slowly climbed up the drain strainer, and eventually overwhelmed it, so I had to go for a larger drain. Now my concern is whether or not the restriction at the smaller diameter thru-hull fitting at the transom is going to cause it to overflow... I would love to put in a check valve and route the overflow from the drain to the livewell pump to recirculate the excess, but I would need a different livewell. pump.

I was planning on insulating the livewell with a thin foam sheets and using ice packs or a small cooler filled with ice with the intake hose running through an aluminum coiled tube in it to chill the incoming water. At one point I thought about attaching a peltier to the outside of the aluminum livewell and putting a heatsink on the inside opposite it, or do the same cooler idea but with a peltier. The only problem there is the amount of power that would take, and not having a silent power source other than more heavy batteries...
 
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