Lets talk Cooler Livewells

I am currently working on a cooler livewell for my 14' polar craft. I would like see pics or diagrams of portable cooler livewells. I want to remove mine when not in a tournament.

I was thinking about using a TH Marine pumpout/aerator head on a 100qt cooler. Is there a way to use one pump or will I need two? I do not want to use any thru hull fittings as this will be a removable unit.

Thanks for the advice.

I know you specifically mentioned not wanting to do thru-hull fittings but I wanted to mention this idea in case you changed your mind or for others. I'm making a new boat purchase soon going with an NCS model for room and I am also going to go with the removable cooler livewell, at least at first. Rather than having to mess with using a recirculating pump and removing it to hang overboard, I was thinking about installing a traditional thru-hull fitting on the transom and then connecting a coiled washdown hose like in the link. I could use the washdown hose to easily fill the cooler each trip and then also could hose out the inside of the boat at the end of the day while the boat is loaded on the trailer but still in the water (assuming you aren't hold other people up). I may rethink the plan when the time actually comes to go through with it but I'm liking the thought of it so far. I would just much rather have a cooler dedicated to being a livewell that I can drill into and mount a fixed pump and fixed spray bar and avoid having to worry about suction cups loose wires in it.

https://www.amazon.com/HoseCoil-Hig...&qid=1456870707&sr=8-1&keywords=washdown+hose

this is last cooler livewell I made for my last boat worked great used a bucket to fill or a separate bildge pump tossed over the side with the wires running zip tied to the tubing back to the cooler

https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=12550&start=45

I made a baitwell using a Marine Metal Fish Saver and a 36-quart Igloo Marine Ultra Cooler. Works great. I wired the fish saver to a 12V plug so I can easily plug it into either of my 2 12V receptacles on my boat. I tie the cooler down with a bungee to the captains seat which keeps it held solid while under way. Only modification I made to the cooler was to cut a small "V" out of the lip under the lid so the power cord for the fish saver fits nicely. I use it for minnows and bluegill. I also have a 120V aerator I use at the house to keep oxygen levels up while waiting to go fishing. I've kept minnows alive for over 2 weeks in it by changing 1/3 or so of the water every few days and keeping the temperature down with frozen water bottles as needed. I bought a cheap digital aquarium thermometer off of Amazon to keep an eye on the water temperature. It should work fine in a 100-quart cooler as well since it is rated for up to 30 gallons. I have it dialed down pretty low when using it in my 36-quart cooler. Turned all the way up it would probably quickly beat my bait to death.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EYUJFS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

https://www.amazon.com/HDE-Digital-Fish-Aquarium-Thermometer/dp/B00GR0LKN8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1456931316&sr=8-3&keywords=digital+aquarium+thermometer

Only picture I have of my setup, but you should get the idea.

I quit fishing tournaments years ago, and went back to recreational fishing, without the competition. Much more relaxing now. Anyway, my livewell is an old Coleman cooler that I partially fill with ice, then fill it the rest of the way with fish. Right from water to ice-they taste better that way, though I'm told that sometimes it's best to bleed them out before throwing them on ice. Haven't tried that yet.

Well after a while pondering and tinkering here is my finished livewell setup.

100gt cooler with quick access lid

Has recirc aeration pump with pumpout (flowrite)

Has a livewell fill pump coming in from transom. I stalled a shutoff valve here so i can disconnect to remove cooler when not in tournamenf.

Installed a frabill bubbler on the other side simple bc i got it extremely cheap from walmart clearnace.

My intent with this livewell was to have everything push button operable but also removable. I tried using a bilge pump to pump water in but that got old real fast.

It holds 5 fish alive nicely

Hope this may help otherslooking for livewell options.

Looks great! Clean, functional, and versatile. I bet you will be very happy going ahead and doing the thru-hull like you did.

I'm curious though what you do with the hoses when you disconnect them? Do you have place to fold them back and hold them to the rear bench seat?

Since the hoses arent that long or hard to undo, i just leave them attached to cooler

Was wondering do you have another pump installed for pumping out the cooler or how do you remove the water

No extra pump needed to pump water out of cooler. I used the flowrite aerator/pumpout combo valve that lets me divert the water out of the livewell.