New guy re-plumbing a livewell '85 DynaTrak

[RC_DynaTrak]

Hey folks - long-time fisherman, 1st-time bass boat owner.

I was bequeathed a 1985 Ebbtide Dynatrak with a 90 hp Yamaha 2-stroke.
Previous owner was my best friend's father (and a 2nd father to me) who recently passed away. He took very good care of this boat - especially the engine - but 30+ years of use, wiring & parts fixes, etc. took a toll and it was in need of some updating and TLC to get it back on the water. I've finally started in earnest (mostly re-wiring), but even after pretty thorough research I'm a little puzzled by the livewell plumbing situation.
The old pump & hoses were tossed before I had a chance to decipher the original plumbing. Hopefully the attached pictures and captions are adequate here.

There's two thru-hull fittings in rear of boat/bilge:
- one is a bulkhead fitting with 3/4 barb connection on the inside (Right now there's a drain hose connected to this, running from a cooler hatch in front of the console).
- The other drain hole - lowest and centered - has a brass bushing & 1" snap-handle drain plug.

On the back of the livewell there's two holes up top and a drain outlet at the bottom:
- A 3/4" ID hose goes into the top-most hole and connects to a perf'd horizontal tube with a little shutoff valve. I assume this is for fill & aeration.
- Overflow hole (I assume) is 1-1/8", slightly lower than the fill hole.
- Bottom drain outlet is a 3/4" OD barb. Drain hole is 1/2" ID on the inside with a snap plug for it, no threads or anything for a screen/strainer.

_Sooo...my question, I guess, is how would you plumb this livewell?

- I feel like the barbed thru-hull fitting in the bilge should probably be a raw water intake, no? Except there's no threaded fitting on the outside for a strainer to screw onto (just the bulkhead fitting). Would you replace it with a different fitting to feed a water intake? Somehow I don't think the cooler drain needs to be connected to a thru-hull port. Can't it just trickle into the bilge to be pumped out?

- Overflow of livewell: would it just slosh into the bilge (via a short hose run) to be pumped out? or piped to...where? I have one thru-hull above the waterline in the rear for the bilge discharge.

- Can I do a full recirc / aerate / exchange / pumpout with the existing holes in the well and hull?

Thanks in advance for your advice and assistance. This is a labor of love for me and will mean a lot to the previous owner's family.

 

[skuhleman]

I have a 84 astroglass, it has the livewell pump mounted through the transom, and the livewell drain next to it. Bilge drain next to that.
the pump fills via the top hole, and I have 2 overflow hoses, one out each side of the boat with thru hull fittings

You could easily drill a hole for the livewell pump to mount through the transom,, and add a thru hull for the over flow.

 

[gm280]

Any through hull pump you decide on installing, has to be below the water line or it won't work...obviously. And if you forget to install the live well drain plug, it will fill up to the lake water line of the boat, and even drain while running as well So you have to make sure that is plugged from the start.

Some live wells use standpipes to control the live well water level. And you could do that as well. But usually such a stand pipe goes straight into the floor of the live well. Then you cut the stand pipe to the level you want the live well water. Not seeing anything but an overflow outlet, I would think you don't want the water level that high. Besides the extra weight, it will slosh out when taking off and stopping. So I would install another water level drain if you don't go the stand pipe route.

The live well pump will simply fit to the spray bar to fill the live well and aerate the fish if you install a aerate setup timer. You just have to decide how you want to proceed with this live well and pumps and fittings. Not hard to do and you will love having a properly operating live well as well. JMHO