My Cooler Livewell

Made this today. I had the cooler and the bilge pump kit cost me $40 from BPS. It looks like it works pretty good, just need some bass to try it out.

I needed it for my first ever tournament next weekend. Cant wait!!!!

nice job man! I'm about to make the same thing!

I keep trying to tell myself why I need to do anything different with the new boat than this. I've ran mine the same way for 3 years on the old boat and it's worked fine. I just throw the pump overboard to fill up the cooler, set it back in to recirculate, then put the spray bar overboard to empty. No drilling, 1 pump, easy to clean, insulated, etc.... I think you just helped me make up my mind. I bought the 120qt cooler at WallyWorld for $49, then made a plexi lid to sit inside the cooler with a cutout in the middle wrapped with fuel line to keep the fish from going airborn when the lid was open. My old boat the top of the cooler was close to the gunwhales and made for an easy jump overboard.

I used same kit for my livewell. This is the third year I've used it. This spring I snagged an aerator minnow bucket for $10 at wally world. The bubble thing uses "c" batteries, but when I used it for trout fishing it lasted three days--blowing bubbles the all day long when I was fishing. I kept one trout from early morning to seven o'clock and it was very lively when I took it out. I drilled one 1/4' hole in side of cooler to put hose through.

I have used this system alot myself. I used it in 4 hour tournaments and it kept my fish healthy and active. If I was going to use it very long period of time I would do something like Brine had mentioned and have a way to change out some of the water without having to risk fish going overboard.

nice job.....need to look into one of those myself. =D>