Wood for Livewell?

[Fisherball]

Can I use the 3/4" oak plywood I have from a 25 year old entertainment center to build the sides of my livewell without problems? It was finished with oil based stain & polyurathane applied by wife & I when we got it. She worked in an unfinished wood furniture store at the time so it's a good finish. It's got some beautiful wood in it that I can cut to the sizes I need. I plan on covering with poly resin & glass.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Wood for Livewell?

I'd use it to frame the outside of a nylon livewell.
But you can do it as you planned, it'll take some glass and resin, a few gallons I'm sure. You'll need to design the fittings etc.

I saw a guy use a plastic barrel to mold his livewell, he cut the top and bottom off and changed the shape of the barrel, then used that as a mold. He changed it from round to oval.

 

[Fisherball]

Re: Wood for Livewell?

Cool, that what I thought. I'm thinking about lining it with 1" extruded styrofoam (that blue or pink stuff) & using 1/4 or 3/16" plywood as the actual inside. Covering all sides of all wood with resin & glass. I think insulating it will keep bait & caught fish alive longer.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Wood for Livewell?

are you thinking that your boat is too light and fast?....Lose the 3/4 and the ply..... form your livewell with the foam and glass it or better yet buy a nylon well and suspend it in a cardboard box lined with a plastic bag weigh it down and fill the box with spray foam
ps if you build your own round the corners... fish live longer if they can swim circles without constantly running in to a dead end

 

[Fisherball]

Re: Wood for Livewell?

Would the styrofoam be good to cover with resin/glass? That would be an easy way to form whatever shape you wanted. I didn't know you could do that to extruded styrofoam. My other concern is cost of resin & glass, I'm on a tight budget until the economy breaks. I already own the wood & I think it would take much less resin/glass on wood than using enough to give a styrofoam box enough structure/strength to hold the weight.

I'm not worried about weight or boat speed. The whole deal full of water & fish would weigh less than 2 people sitting up front. I'm not sure there is enough room, I may have to rethink where & even if I can install a livewell. Unless you are in tournies I don't get having a very expensive 300 hp motor on a small fishing boat. I guess it's whatever floats (In this case, moves) your boat.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Wood for Livewell?

You'll need to use epoxy for extruded foam, gets expensive.
I just use a 5 gal bucket.

 

[Fisherball]

Re: Wood for Livewell?

I'm changing what I was going to do for a livewell. I'm thinking cooler or maybe a smaller box than originally planned. The bow just doesn't have enough room that I'm willing to give up. I'll probably set it in center of stern against splashwell on a 6"-8" tall storage bin so I can have it drain out the side using a pump mounted outside the transom. That'll give me much needed storage space. I'm scared to cut a hole through my transom. I figure if there are no thru-hull fittings that I'll never have a leaky thru-hull fitting. The livewell will be removable, probably clamped to top of splashwell somehow so it doesn't move around. Thanks for all the advise. I'm sure I'll post more questions when I get to plumbing it.