Hi guys. New to the forum. I just purchased a 1983 Skeeter Starfire 80. The boat is perfect for me and it is in great shape. The previous owner told me that the pump to the front livewell was out and it was out when he purchased the boat. He said that he never used the livewells so he didn't bother fixing it. No big deal, I thought. I watched some videos on how to change a livewell pump and priced new ones. 30 bucks. Not too bad. But today was the first time I could really look at the situation. I see two water pick ups on the bottom of the transom just below the motor, as in the videos I watched. But when I opened the rear bulge compartment, these two plastic pick ups were connected to one inch hoses, not to the livewell pumps. These two hoses seemed to be returning from both livewells and then flowing out of the boat at the rear. The two pumps say Rule Livewell on them. They have 3/4 inch tubes coming off of them and headed towards the livewells. It all looks like it is original due to the fact that the rings holding on all of the hoses are of the crimp on type. I can not see how these pumps are collecting water. Are these just air pumps? Are these wells manual fill? But this doesn't make sense either as both wells have drains at their bottoms and inlets at the very top of each well. These inlets would be useless for pumping in air as they enter each well way above the over fills in each well. I mean air would just be going into more air, not the water. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks!
