in deck livewell

[makade]

I have been wondering if anyone has any experience or thoughts on reverse plumbing my in deck livewell. I was thinking to let h20 pressure fill my well from a seacock/pickup which i already have. then use a pump to drain/pump overboard?

[MasterBaiter]

I think I remember reading something like this on this site. Water intake using forward motion and water level controlled by exhaust tube out the other half of the intake - something like that if I read it right.

But, more importantly, I would not rely on a pump to drain the box. A clog or pump faliure could be a disaster.

[workinpr0gress]

The only time I like that set-up personally is when the livewell is glassed to and is part of the hull. With a inlet and overflow directly through the bottom so when you're running it can drain out or you can close it off from inside the livewell and the thruhull at the same time. If done correctly it really gives you a huge safety margin compared to hoses and plumbing. Get the overflow at the perfect height and the center inlet at the right height and it works great. Don't know how well that would work in a smaller boat on smaller scale, not much room. Livewels can be pretty creative and there are a bunch of different setups. I'll be figuring one out soon. Good luck! Bruce

[makade]

yeah, i think i may do some experimenting, it shouldn't cost much. i already have the seacock capped off(not being used), and i can just use my one of my bilge overboards for testing. So i won't have to drill any holes other than in the livewell itself. Im not to concerned with a pump-out failure as all i would do is pull the existing drain and let it go into the bilge where my 2 bilge pumps would take over.

[Blue197320]

thats how the livewell in my 20 is. it works, but you have to watch out while your running. it will overflow pretty quick. for the inlet side directly under the livewell there is a thru-hull with a valve and a pump mounted on top. all of that is inside the livewell. to fill it, you open the valve and turn the pumps on. it fills pretty fast at rest. when your moving watch out that water comes in quick. the pujmp inside is a 500 gph. for the outlet part i have an 800gph pump that the water flows into livewell outlet pump i was hoping that with that bigger pump it would not overflow anymore but it still does, just not as fast. i can close the valve inside halfway and it fixes the problem but then i dont have as much movement in the water and my bait starts to suffer.

[workinpr0gress]

thats how the livewell in my 20 is. it works, but you have to watch out while your running. it will overflow pretty quick. for the inlet side directly under the livewell there is a thru-hull with a valve and a pump mounted on top. all of that is inside the livewell. to fill it, you open the valve and turn the pumps on. it fills pretty fast at rest. when your moving watch out that water comes in quick. the pujmp inside is a 500 gph. for the outlet part i have an 800gph pump that the water flows into livewell outlet pump i was hoping that with that bigger pump it would not overflow anymore but it still does, just not as fast. i can close the valve inside halfway and it fixes the problem but then i dont have as much movement in the water and my bait starts to suffer.

it's hard to do on smaller scale you don't really get the height you need or would want like the big boats.... Btw you could put wedge in front of the inlet on the thru-hull if it's set up the way I'm talking about, that should stop over flow... Some guys thread a PVC pipe with holes drilled in it onto the inlet too....livewells are better big, it's a problem

[Dan]

I tell you I have thought of this for years trying to get that in deck livewell to work properly. I think I even posted the same theory as you, but the best I solution I came up with was to cut the whole livewell out and use a 30 gal barrel that is completely free flowing and drains overboard. A few years back I was 15 miles offshore and took on ALOT of water for various little reasons that added up to a big problem. It was so much water that I could not get the boat on plane and my bilge pump quit. I realized at that moment that I had no access to the bilge from inside the boat. I couldn't bail if I wanted to. I decided when I got home to cut the livewell out completely. I reshaped the hole in the deck to fit a watertight Armstrong hatch and glassed over the drain hole in the transom. Before I had to go thru the hatch in the splashwell to access the bilge. Now I can reach the seacocks, bilge pumps, and bail (if ever necesssary) from inde the boat. I don't use a livewell that often so to me this the better solution. I'm thinking now about constructing an in deck insulated fishbox where the livewell used to be.

[Old'sCool]

This works for me and stays in the garage when not in use.