how do bass boat livewells work

[Steve Mahler]

I am restoring my first bass boat, from the stringers up. Has two livewells, looks to have thru hull intakes and perhaps outlets?

How does the plumbing and electrical typically work in a livewell?

Can you pump it full of lake water, turn on aeration, and then when done fishing pump them out?

 

[basalt51]

Re: how do bass boat livewells work

I don't know how others work, but the drain in my '93 Fisher is plugged by a ~12" length of PVC. If it fills too full the water will still drain through the top of the PVC. When I'm ready to empty it I simply pull the pipe out and the water drains out to the back of the boat.

It fills from an inlet also in the back. Once full I switch to re-circulate/auto and every few minutes it will cycle water from within the livewell. I'm sure they get much fancier, but thats how mine works!

 

[Captain Caveman]

Re: how do bass boat livewells work

There are a few different ways that they work, but typically/simply they use a pump to fill with lake water and a drain powered by gravity.

Basalt 51's boat uses a removable plastic tube. An old boat of mine had an L-shaped metal tube. When I pumped water in, I put a boat plug in the bottom of the L-tube. If I overfilled the livewell, water would drain through the top of the L-tube. When I wanted to drain the livewell, I just pulled out the boat plug in the lower L-tube.

My new boat has a regular drain (like a bathtub) in the bottom with an overflow near the top. I have a lever that opens and closes the drain, just like in a bathtub.

There are many styles but mostly a pump for inflow and a gravity drain for outflow.