Livewells, recirculating or non?

[paulie]

High speed livewell pickups sink boats. You won't even know you're sinking until it's too late. Such a high volume of water comes in during a time you are concentrating on navigation you won't notice it happening until you have water around your ankles.

Yes, a way to correct high speed pickups from sinking your boat is to inspect your hoses but as in my case and many people's cases I can only see a few feet of hoses on any of my three livewells. And inspecting something doesn't mean it still won't fail.

And good luck with insurance and your unauthorized high speed pickup modification if do have a problem

[Bobby Winds]

On my Polar Kraft, my main live well will overflow is I put the 3 way switch on manual and forget about it but if I put the switch on auto it works great and as you said doesn't keep drawing amps off the battery. I'm sure these switches are all standard size now so just install one and get r done.

[Snowking]

Their is at least two diffrent size switches. I know on my Lund crossover it uses very narrow switches compared to allot of the standerd wider switches. What boat the op is buying would help out. When I wanted to put in a three way switch I had to get the name off of the two way switch. Then look around on the Internet for the right one. If you are worried about the starter battery not having enough juice I would have the dealer put in a size 27 or bigger tray and batt. Get bigger battery right from the dealer or no battery. I would think they would swap the battery out before you pick it up. If a bigger battery fits where the original is.

[wellpastcold]

Originally Posted by Kevin23

What do you guys think? For bass fishermen its an easy question, recirculating with chemicals.. But they have to release their fish at the end of the day. How about for us non-tourney guys, what do you think? Recirculating with chemicals/ice or pump fresh and overflow from the lake on a timer?

Negotiating a new boat and don't know if I want to spend the extra for him to install recirculating pumps in an already built new boat. My last boat didn't have them until I installed them this spring, not sure if I like them or not. Had to keep adding ice to keep them cool and pumping fresh water every hour or so to get the blood and #hit out.

On a related question, does anyone know of a livewell timer that I can attach to the factory rocker switches? Don't really want to drill holes and install more switches in a new boat.

What kind of boat are you buying where recirc is an option? Seems like a pretty standard feature to me. If you are not going to tournament fish any well stocked ice chest is preferred. Why bathe fish you intend to eat in chemicals? Why retain fish you don't intend to eat in your livewell? Sorry but I must be missing something.
There are several add on, in line style non adjustable timers available on the market. Several manufacturers use them.

[Kevin23]

Its an already built mirrocraft (leftover model), it was set up with basic items and no accessories. I am having the dealer install several "add ons".

I think ill hold off on recirc and then add it myself later on if its needed for some unforeseen reason.

For the livewell timer im going to try and find a 3 pos switch for the panel and rig up my own timer using one from REWs links. If i cant easily locate a 3 pos i will just install the timer on the on/off switch. And see if it fills fast enough.. If not back to searching.


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[DW]

Check the specs on your cranking battery. I use a AGM 24 with RC of 160 minutes, so draining the battery is not a concern. Live well pumps typically only draw about 3 amps. Nevertheless, there is a lingering doubt so I installed a timer in series with the existing live well switch. It fills fast enough then I turn it to 20% operation.

The primary reason I installed the timer is to reduce the risk of sinking. One day, I left my pump running at the dock, left the scene, unaware that the live well was overflowing into the bilge. The bilge float switch stuck. It wasn't until I jumped into the boat I realized what was going on. Another hour and down she goes.

[Kevin23]

I will check it when i get it. There was no battery installed when i last saw it but a starting battery is included. Im sure its just a cheap 24S. The tray was for a group 24.


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[REW]

Kevin,
If there is no battery in the boat when you get it, pick up a nice group 31 deep cycle.
Last a long time and give you a lot of capacity.

Be safe

[Hanr3]

When I rebuilt my boat I installed a 750gpm pump and Timer switch. The 30 gallon live-well has a 1 1/4" diameter drain hole through the side of the boat.

Only time I put the plug in the live-well is when I drop the first fish into it. Turn the timer to on and let it fill the tank, then switch the timer to 7 minutes. Runs for 1 minute every 7 minutes. Works great and I don't lose fish. I do not have a recirculating pump. I didn't see the point of circulating the same hot, oxygen deprived, slimy water. Sure it will add oxygen recirculating, however it doesn't cool the water, or remove the slime. Pulling fresh water from the lake at least will keep the water temp the same as lake temp.

I did the same thing with my rear live-well, except on a smaller scale. The rear live-well is 13 gallons with a 3/4" drain tube. Pull the tube and the live-well drains. Leave the tube in and she fills with water until it reaches the top of the tube, then overflows. I installed a 500gpm pump on the rear live-well. Same timer and I use it the same way as my 30 gallon tank.

To be honest, I have left it in run mode longer than I should have, got wrapped up fishing and forget about it. Until I hear running water, then I switch to the 7 minute cycle. I don't have a problem with the rear live-well either. Again no recirculating pump.

[Kevin23]

Decided to not have recirc installed. Should be a couple weeks of rigging and then it will be ready for pick up!


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