Live Well Water

[Quicksilver]

I have a '01 Alumacraft Magnum 175. It has two livewells. How come even when I fish and don't use the livewells there is a little bit of water on the bottom of the wells when I end the day. Where does the water come from? There is no water in the bilge. Both these wells drain out the back of the boat below the water line. Do I have to winterize these wells? Is there water standing in the drain lines? Any help would be appreciated.

[Skis]

My understanding on this is that the water comes into the livewells from the overflow on the outside of the boat. I have the same thing. Just wish Alumacraft would also change their drains on these so you don't have to towel out the last 1/4" of water.

[Dave in Mpls]

The water coming into the livewells can come from one of three sources:
1) From the livewell aerator pump
2) From the drain
3) From the overflow

I am currently running a 190 Competitor, which has a livewell in the rear port side, as well as the center port side. I use the livewell in the center port as storage for things such as drift sock, boat bumpers, paddle, etc. The drain for this livewell is in the rear, and the overflow is in the port side. I originally thought I could keep it dry by simply shuting off the inlet valve for the pump. Wrong! I then put a plug in the drain even though, in theory, the drain valve should keep water out. This helped a bunch, but I still got a small amount of water in. Finally, I placed a plug (1 1/2" ) in the overflow, after removing the screen. This seems to have solved the problem. In short, if you do not operate the aerator pump, and plug the drain and overflow, you should not get water into the livewell.

Regards

[Walizz]

The way the drain lines seem to run through nooks and crannies it's best to get some anti freeze into them so that it settles in the low spots and prevent cracking the hose. You can also suck anti freeze through the intake for the live well to take care of the pumps too.

[quicksilver]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help. I also can't understand why we have to towel out the last quarter inch of water in the live wells. A drain should be a drain.

[Leo Kam]

Because water seeks its own level.