Livewell Water Direction

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rachbra

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So I am redoing my 1648 NCS alumacraft and am putting in a live well. However I hate putting holes in the side of my boat!! I have made a diagram and was wondering if you guys would take a look and tell me if it will work. I just don't want to put two holes next to each other on the same side of the boat because I get near capacity and feel that would be a weak spot. So I would only make one hole with the fittings for an aerator and use tube/pvc to reach the first pump and so on as the diagram describes. Cant use the back of the boat since live well is in the center of boat.
 

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This is what I am going for as a rough design
 

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Do you need any overflow?

Will you always keep Pump 2 (aerator) running? If not, the way it is plumbed (which may be OK for your use) it looks like when both pumps are off that a high level of water in the livewell will backflow through Pump 2 (when off) and discharge overboard through the inlet.

I fish saltwaters, but when I have had to use rectangular tanks with 90-degree corners, I affix thin plastic sheets across the corners, secured at the top only, to 'round out' the hard corners. Saltwater baits are notorious for burying their noses in hard corners and dying ... due to poor water flow through their gills.
 
well my goal is to be able to fill my livewell and aerate it as need be. My biggest concern was how to get the water out at the end of the day without putting another hole in it. if i turn my pump off that brings water in the boat will it back flow through it? I am confused on why no one has created a pump that can take water in and put it out by reversing it.. idk seems like it wouldnt be to hard.
 
'Reverse' on a pump isn't needed provided the pump is on a plane lower than the inlet.

On my many saltwater bait tank installs (30-50 gallons) the pump was down in the bilge connected to a seacock. The inlet to the well was as low as I could place it. My baitwell interiors were blue/green in color (less stress on fragile baits) and the waterflow inlet intentionally was an elbow-like head inside the well, to induce a clockwise flow akin to the effect imparted by the Coriolis Effect (earth rotates counter-clockwise when looking at the North Pole). But you don't need such direction on your tanks (not sure it works either, but all the best fishermen plumbed their wells that way).

When or if I shut the pumps off, the well would drain ... not all of it, but most of it. A few mops w/ a sponge dedidated to the livewells (as in don't use for general cleaning or get cleaners/solvents on it) at the end of the day and all was well.

You may not need a seacock or shutoff to the water inlet, but if you store the boat in the water ... I'd sure add one. Plastic pumps, fittings and hoses can fail.
 
I have a fully plumbed 20 gallon in mine, through-hull pump attached to a seacock as described above. The pump runs non-stop as I usually have a half scoop of sardines in there. 800gph pump might be overkill but it gets the water moving and is constantly flushing the scales. I have two outlets, the tallest of which I run over the side. Once the water reaches that level it will automatically drain. I also run a hose out of the bottom of the tank and down the center channel to the bilge. There's a ball-valve at that end and I just crack it open at the end of the day and dump everything out of the drain plug. Redoing the bunk and floors right now otherwise I'd take some pics but I think I have some floating around somewhere. I'll post them if I can find them.
 
Is that picture that shows your floor accurate? If so, do you plan to level it out? Reason I'm asking, my Tracker 1648 was the same way. When I leveled it, under the center was obviously higher, so I ran a fill line and drain line from there to the back of the hull. I would be worried about the fill being that low on the side of hitting a stump or something and breaking it off. Flo-rite makes a valve that you can pull the head out to pump out and push it in to recirculate. Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you are over thinking the holes you have to drill. I'd recommend an overflow hole with a larger diameter at the side of the boat. If you do the flo-rite valve, you can put the pump out at the side as well.
 

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