Cooler for a livewell?

Hello all...

I was just thinking about my boat. And since its cold and rainy out I cannot do much with it so its plans and figuring instead of tinkering.

So I had a thought. I am going to do a few things with my Sea Nymph but I mostly want the room for my kids to go along with me fishing. So I am not really wanting to strip the benches out and deck the boat....mainly at this poing because I am not sure of the stability etc and if there are any leaks... So for now, at least I have a basic boat with benches. However, at times a livewell is so nice to have. And with that thought its got me thinking. We have seemed to collect alot of medium sized coolers (livewell sized in most boats I have been in) Has anyone here ever built one out of a cooler...filling and draining being the big issue I see but coule be done with a small bilge pump. And then removed easy...Could be a nice simple (read cheap as I have most of the parts) way for me to have a livewell.

Probably a silly thought but I am thinking up projects I can do until the weather cooperates.

My local walmart sells a kit that turns a cooler into a live well. Thought it was around $35..

Here is a link to an auction that tells all about it along with a lot of pics.

Super Saver 12V Aeration System Marine Metal Products SS212 Live Bait Cooler Kit
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Save...935?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a185e49f7

Take a looksie...

https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14582&hilit=livewell+cooler

Also, run a search (top right corner) for "cooler livewell".

There have been a few discussions on it, and might provide some more info for ya.

I went to walmart tonight and picked up a bilge install kit. Tested my pump today...it was new but sitting out in the old boat...worked fine. I need to get some PVC and some clips and I am good to go. I have a few coolers...one should work.

I'll post some pics when I get it done.

Jason

How big of a cooler are you looking to use for your livewell? I have the same idea for the livewell to use during tournaments and then take out when just fishing because of the space. My concern is just to have a large enough cooler to keep the fish healthy for a few hours during the tournament but not enough to add a lot of weight to the boat. I am thinking a 50 quart cooler would work, but would it be too small for 3 - 4 bass ( I am hoping to catch the limit in the tornament.) Any help would be great.

Not sure what size I will use. We've collected a few over the years. So I probably will use one of those. I don't see anything huge being needed for me. I would think 3-4 bass would fit in a fairly small livewell. My Grandfathers boat has a pretty small livewell and we've put a good amount of bass in it. Of course we wern't keeping them for a tournament.

I'll look to see what size the coolers I have are.

I figure a 48 qt is plenty...seems about the same size as the factory one on my uncles bass boat.

Thanks guys. The 48qt would be about 12 gallons and weigh around 100lbs when filled with the limit of 3 bass and the lunker lol. I don't think that would be overkill in the boat considering it would be less than the weight of a third person in the middle.

What about 3 Lunkers?