Building a LiveWell - Completed

[Troutman3000]

I added 2 ... can't think of what they are called... but you bolt them to trailers to attach straps to to hold it down. I have 1 on each side of the cooler (I'm not using the rubbermaid container, now I'm using a cooler. Anyways, I attach the straps to that and wrap it around the handles on the cooler and then back down to the hook screwed into the floor. Then I run a strap across the top from one side to the other to keep the top on going down the road.

The way I have my cooler set up is a little different, and I'll post pics of it later. I have a bilge pump in it that I use to circulate the water, and I can take the hose off the spray bar and pump water out. I have another bilge pump with a longer power wire set up to where I can pump water in.

I have a cigarette lighter on both bilge pumps. I have the one 12volt plug-in like before. But I bought a 12v adapter that has 3 inputs on it. The bilge in the cooler has a switch on it for me to cut it on and off, and on the other bilge pump I just have to plug it in and pull it out when I'm done. I didn't put a switch on it because when I'm done recirulating I pull it out of the water and put it behind the cooler somewhere out of the way. I carry atleast 9 rods with me during tournaments, and in a 12' boat that makes a cramped space even smaller.

I'll try to post pics tonight if I get home in time.

Interested in seeing your cooler pics.

 

[russ010]

umm... yea about that cooler.. I have the cooler, but it's not functional anymore since I have a "real" livewell.

Basically all I did was take the drain spout out of the cooler, and installed the livewell recirculater pump. It's about a 3/4" hole, so it fit just fine, and I didn't have to seal with caulk or anything around it. Then I drilled a hole in the top, put regular tubing in through that hole and attached it to a homemade PVC pipe with holes drilled in it for aeration... worked like a champ, but my cooler was HUGE - it's a 150qt cooler. Almost 46" across the bottom

 

[fishinnut]

Built one like it for my pontoon. It works great except when passing boats get it rocking and it splashes over the side. Trying to build some type of baffle now.

 

[zq8blazer]

So I'm guessing this live well recirculates within the container instead of removing the old water and putting new water from the lake into it?

 

[russ010]

that's the way it's set up... but you can turn one of the ball joints to pump water out, while at the same time having another bilge pump or livewell pump bringing water in

 

[javelinpr]

Can you mount the pump with the top part flush to the bottom so that you can empty the livewell easier? you arent using the pump mount anyways so that can point up

Im gonna build one livewell and I need to make it work with a small budget.

I already have a bilge pump that I can use to pump water into the livewell. I need the aereating and pumping water out parts. This design seems simple and easy to build.

I already have a plastic container In there as a livewell.