Livewell without pump

[nate2781]

I recently purchased a 14' aluminum boat that has a live well with no pumps. The guy i bought it from said he filled it with a bucket and refreshed the water every once in awhile.

he live well has an overflow to the exterior, and a drain at the bottom that routes under the floor through the back of the transom. I do have access to about 12' of the drain line.

This is my first boat with a live well, so I am kind of a noobie with that. Do I need a recirc and a fill pump?

I found a submersible recirc pump that mounts in the tank that seems like the easiest path, but i am very open to suggestions.

 

[alldodge]

When I was a kid, use to have a 16 foot with a live well made as part of the center seat. It had a hole in the bottom that you could put your thumb through. So long as the boat was in the water, the live well was also filled. If you wanted to keep the water in while on the trailer just put a cork in it. No need for a pump, because the movement of the boat kept the water changed.

Tell ya this because this sound similar in design. Only difference is its filed from the rear. You could put a pump in to circulate but my guess is it will be fine. Just watch the fish and they will let you know if they need more air. If they do, get a cheap 12V air bubbler and put that in there, should be cheaper and easier then a pump

 

[nate2781]

When I was a kid, use to have a 16 foot with a live well made as part of the center seat. It had a hole in the bottom that you could put your thumb through. So long as the boat was in the water, the live well was also filled. If you wanted to keep the water in while on the trailer just put a cork in it. No need for a pump, because the movement of the boat kept the water changed.

Tell ya this because this sound similar in design. Only difference is its filed from the rear. You could put a pump in to circulate but my guess is it will be fine. Just watch the fish and they will let you know if they need more air. If they do, get a cheap 12V air bubbler and put that in there, should be cheaper and easier then a pump

Thanks for the input. There is plug for the drain, but I think your right, if the plug is out, some water will run into the live well. I'll probably end up going the cheap easy route for this season, if there are issues think about re-doing it in the future.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Are you tourney fishing? We don't tournament fish much, maybe a few 2 day Walleye tourneys a year. We stopped using live wells as designed years ago The fish we do catch are either released immediately or kept to eat, Perch and Walleye, maybe the odd Salmon or Rainbow. We put 2 or 3 large Coke bottles with frozen water in them in the livewells, I have 3 in my StarCraft.. Put the fish under the bottles and you are good to go all day long on the hottest day. The water is so warm here in summer even recirculating with fresh water the fish can go off. I would never expect to keep fish fresh in 72F water at home, the boat is no different. Unless you are doing some tourneys you don't need a recirc. pump in your livewell. Bonus is you always have ice cold water to drink.

 

[nate2781]

Are you tourney fishing? We don't tournament fish much, maybe a few 2 day Walleye tourneys a year. We stopped using live wells as designed years ago The fish we do catch are either released immediately or kept to eat, Perch and Walleye, maybe the odd Salmon or Rainbow. We put 2 or 3 large Coke bottles with frozen water in them in the livewells, I have 3 in my StarCraft.. Put the fish under the bottles and you are good to go all day long on the hottest day. The water is so warm here in summer even recirculating with fresh water the fish can go off. I would never expect to keep fish fresh in 72F water at home, the boat is no different. Unless you are doing some tourneys you don't need a recirc. pump in your livewell. Bonus is you always have ice cold water to drink.

Not planning on tourney fishing. I've always released most, or put them on a stringer to eat. The boat came with a live well, and I plan on redoing the electrical in it so thought it would be a good time to add pumps if I was ever going to. frozen 2 liters is a great idea. I'll try that this summer. I'll leave space to wire in a pump if needed in the future, but it doesn't seem like it is necessary

Thanks.

 

[BTL]

Typically the water lines would be reversed. The hole at the top of the livewell would be where the water comes in through a spray head. The hole in bottom would function as both an overflow and drain, with a piece of pvc pipe stuck in that hole as an overflow while the livewell is in use, and then pulled out when you want to drain. The livewell pump would mount through the transom and send water up to the spray head, and that's the only pump you would need.