1983 thundercraft live well pump?

[ggill]

I just got a 1983 thundercraft with a mercruiser 140. Under one of the seats at the bow there is a tank that looks like a live well. When I pour water in it the water just drains out of the side of the boat through a drain hole. Is this a live well? There is a switch on the dash that is marked pump. Actually, there are two switches, one of them turns on the bilge pump in the back and I am assuming the other switch operates a pump for the front well. If there is a pump for the front tank, where would it be? If I am not using the well, should I just put a plug in it? Thanks for any advice/thoughts

 

[Stinnett21]

Is this a runabout or fishing rig? I'm pretty sure the front one is nothing more than a cooler that drains overboard. If it was a live well you would have more than one supply and or drain.

 

[ggill]

Is this a runabout or fishing rig? I'm pretty sure the front one is nothing more than a cooler that drains overboard. If it was a live well you would have more than one supply and or drain.

That makes sense. Any thoughts on the two pump switches?

 

[Stinnett21]

The word Pump is in between two. One is probably an accessory switch not hooked to anything.

 

[southkogs]

With an I/O, I would hope that one of those switches runs a blower. BUT, that set of toggles looks like it was a replacement set, not the original switches.

You should (generally) have a way to switch on your bilge pump, your nav lights, your anchor light only, your blower (on an I/O) and then sometimes and extra accessory switch.

 

[ggill]

With an I/O, I would hope that one of those switches runs a blower. BUT, that set of toggles looks like it was a replacement set, not the original switches.

You should (generally) have a way to switch on your bilge pump, your nav lights, your anchor light only, your blower (on an I/O) and then sometimes and extra accessory switch.

So what is the difference between anchor lights and navigation lights? The label above the switch says "nav/anchor". But if you are correct about those switches being non-original, who knows what the original set up was like. Thanks for your input. So right now I have a switch that turns on the blower, one that starts the bilge pump, and one that turns on the red/green light at the bow.

 

[nola mike]

So what is the difference between anchor lights and navigation lights? The label above the switch says "nav/anchor". But if you are correct about those switches being non-original, who knows what the original set up was like. Thanks for your input. So right now I have a switch that turns on the blower, one that starts the bilge pump, and one that turns on the red/green light at the bow.

Yeah, those look like single throw replacement switches. The original nav/anchor switch was 2 position. The red/green should also turn on the white stern light. Anchor turns on the stern light only. Depending on how creative the wiring is, 1 of the switches is for anchor and 1 is for navigation. If he got creative, maybe 1 switch turns on red/light only, and 1 turns on stern light only (IMHO, I would consider that a safety issue if it was wired like that).

 

[southkogs]

So what is the difference between anchor lights and navigation lights?

On a boat under 40', the red / green light on the bow and the all around white light on the stern make up the navigation lights. When you're at anchor, the red / green light is turned off and the white all around light remains on. That's your anchor light.

I lean to agree with the above about the switches. You might have to chase wires to figure it all out.