My New Homegrown Livewell Setup

After searching and searching Ive finally designed my own livewell. The boat has one built into(minus the auto water feed and such) it but the tank of the drawing could easily be replaced with a cooler. The spray bar would be made from capped off PVC with holes drilled in it. I figure this whole setup should cost roughly $100 and has the following.

Switch activated livewell filling
Switch activated empty/recycle
Overflow protection
Airated water
Light(Missing in drawing will be below water line and l.e.d)

Throw a couple big blue ice packs in that baby and it should keep minnows for days. I will post pictures on my board when im done with it. Ive been collecting materials and waiting for some warm weather. I should note, the inside of this thing is a little rusty. I plan to clean that out with an air grinder, seal all the seams and paint it white after cutting the needed holes. Im going to attempt to make this 100% hidden under the new decks. Youll notice that the pump ejecting the water from the tank is also doubling as recycle for the tank. The cutoff valve allowing me to shut the water off from leaving the boat thus redirecting it to the sprayer.

Before anyone says it, yes I could do it cheaper for less work but anything worth doing is right doing AWESOME!

Any hole below waterline, use a sea****and any fittings used for that location are also designed for below water line. Double clamp all hoses. If you don't have a bilge pump now add one w/ the new holes in the boat. 3m makes 5200 adhesive designed for below waterline, use it. keep in mind that this is permanent glue.

Ok, its basically just a shutoff valve... correct? It doesnt actually stop the water at the hull????

Side note...
With the one pump system I can afford a larger pump making it fill, cycle and empty faster then the original design

As stated it's a shut off from outside water to inside.http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/12109/377%20710%201508/0/Valves,%20Deck%20Fills,%20Misc./Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/20/0?N=377%20710%201508&Ne=0&Ntt=Valves,%20Deck%20Fills,%20Misc.&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&page=CategoryDisplayLevel1&isLTokenURL=true&storeNum=11&subdeptNum=70&classNum=71

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

ORIGINAL: saltflyfisher

Any hole below waterline, use a sea****and any fittings used for that location are also designed for below water line. Double clamp all hoses. If you don't have a bilge pump now add one w/ the new holes in the boat. 3m makes 5200 adhesive designed for below waterline, use it. keep in mind that this is permanent glue.

I do have a bilge pump in the works. What exactly is a sea**** havent seen anything named that. Is it a scupper?

Don't dump your out flow into the bilge, your asking for troubles to happen. That bilge pump stops, and they do in the middle of a day, your filling your bilge w/ water. Dump the water over board. A couple items to consider also carrying, a hand operated pump like those for canoes or kayaks. Wood tapered plugs to stuff into any out side fitting, if the inside hose breaks. Your find them also at westmarine.com.

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

The ideas just keep coming....

Im going to add a second cutoff into the incoming pipe, put a pipe between the two cutoffs and run it to the floor of the boat

Then... if something bad happens like the normal bilge cant keep up during heavy rain or if the normal bilge fails I can run the 750GPH livewell pump as an emergency bilge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

heres your strainer link:http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/249036?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=249036

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

The outflow of the livewell will exit the boat above the waterline, the extra pipe is to remove water from the bilge and send it out of the boat. Thats why it has its own valve that stays shut unless extream emergency. Shutoff the water from the through hull that fills the tank and now open that valve. The pump will pull the water from the bilge and send it directly to the outlet at the rear.

I do plan to get some plugs as well. Do you have a link to a screen for the through hull that fills the well to block debree by any chance? If I cant find one Ill make one.

My two dimenisional drawing doesnt do much for the view of how it will really be setup. The plumbing I am sure will be much more intracit(sp?) because I want all the valves lined up in a line, neat! This isnt something I am going to just slap together. I also left the outflow through hull out of the second diagram. I can see you thinking that will dump into the bilge. Remember this really doesnt have one, its a john boat.

ORIGINAL: saltflyfisher

the other thing I did also was used unions on each side of the pump. If the pump fails its easy to remove and replace w/o to much bending and stretching. My pump is w/in the bilge area and has a small 8 inch inspection cover over the bilge to deal w/. I'm dealing w/ a center console glass boat. Yours would be a easy build w/ access to everything.

Thanks for the link.

Im going with this pump
Click Here

If the pump fails, you simply lift the motor out of the housing and drop a new one in.

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

The ideas just keep coming....

Im going to add a second cutoff into the incoming pipe, put a pipe between the two cutoffs and run it to the floor of the boat

Then... if something bad happens like the normal bilge cant keep up during heavy rain or if the normal bilge fails I can run the 750GPH livewell pump as an emergency bilge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
Look at your diagram again. You will see that valve 4 is going to the floor or bilge. Open valves 1, 3 and 4. Close valves 2 and 5. Turn pump on and water in the bottom of boat is pumped out.