Installing a live well pump (basspirator)

[Quackrstackr]

If the top of the livewell is level with the top of the seat, you probably will not have any problems. I highly doubt that your seats will be below water level. If they are, you are going to have zero freeboard and the smallest wave may likely swamp your boat.

Bilge pumps do not have a check valve built into them. That is why the discharge hose from the bilge is always above the water line. If the highest point of your livewell is below the waterline, water is just going to gravity fill and try to seek it's own level. Your livewell would overflow and your boat would fill up.

 

[cybereyes]

Hmm, well I'm not sure how to handle this. I may have to just put the **** boat in the water to ease my fears. When I first started this thread/project though. Others informed me that my aerator pump would act as a plug when not turned on, and water would only flow when power was applied to it. Hopefully the water level is not up as high as I suspect it will be and I will have nothing to worry about. Although I would always be nervous of that hole in the side that was connected to nothing that would stop water. Then you have to consider once the livewell gets full of water, and the 150 quart cooler has stuff in it, and there is two to four people in the boat, it all could change.

 

[Quackrstackr]

Your aerator/fill pump itself will not act as a plug. The plumbing acts as a sort of trap since the discharge winds up above the waterline.

If that line ever comes off or ruptures below the waterline, you get a boat full of water.

Any in the pump or inline check valve to prevent that from happening would have to be in the direction of flow for when you actually want to use the pump. You would never get any water out of the discharge.

 

[cybereyes]

I guess the only way for me to feel comfortable is to just raise the live well up the the top edge of the boat. Otherwise everytime I put an extra can of beer in the cooler I will be scared of sinking the boat. I really wish I had known before that the whole system was based upon the level of the water in relation to the top of the livewell, that way I would not have placed it where it is now. Its way too much work to move it entirely now. My only option is to try and raise the livewell by bracing it under the lip. I cant really raise the entire deck because its cut to fit the decking around my cooler exactly. I also have guages and a switch mounted into the wall that seperates the livewell and the front decking. What a pain in the *** this is turning out to be.

 

[Quackrstackr]

Personally, I would put the boat in the water and see where I was at before I went about moving anything.

 

[cybereyes]

I was considering that, but its getting down to where this is the last thing I have to do aside from bracing underneath the edges of the livewell deck and cooler deck. Once that is done moving stuff around is pretty much not happening. So I hate to drive all the way to the lake to check out the water level, especially since I already have my aerator pump mounted into the transom which could potentially sink my boat. Not only that but even if I place it in the water and the water level is fine, that doesn't mean it will be fine once I add my weight, my GF's weight, the weight of the water in the livewell, the weight of the ice, food, drinks etc in the cooler. I pretty much know the water level won't get to the top edge of the boat. If I can manage to raise the livewell that would ease my thoughts of ever having to worry about If I may be about to sink.

 

[Macgyver]

Personally I think your over analyzing this . looking at your pics, If you come out of the cooler about 3" from the top run it straight out the side of the boat just under the top of the seats will do just fine as far as height for an overflow. your fill pump will be routed in a manner that the spraybar will be near the top this configuration will not let your boat sink . the height of your cooler is fine where it is at . any higher like your thinking will add weight above the center line and change the boats stablity.

 

[cybereyes]

Personally I think your over analyzing this . looking at your pics, If you come out of the cooler about 3" from the top run it straight out the side of the boat just under the top of the seats will do just fine as far as height for an overflow. your fill pump will be routed in a manner that the spraybar will be near the top this configuration will not let your boat sink . the height of your cooler is fine where it is at . any higher like your thinking will add weight above the center line and change the boats stablity.

You would be right except for the fact that my cooler is well, a cooler . My livewell is the silver box in front of the cooler which is level with the deck that I built.

 

[Quackrstackr]

Now that I have seen your pictures, are you planning on running 2 pumps? That is the only way that what you have drawn will work and be able to drain your water.

The only way that you are going to be able to figure this out is to put your boat in the water. Take a plug that you can plug your inlet pump with.

If your boat sits low enough in the water for the livewell lid to be below the waterline.... I would be removing some weight asap.

 

[cybereyes]

I'm running one aerator pump to pump the water in, and one bilge to pump it out. I really don't know how else to run it. If It won't work the way I have it drawn, aside from the livewell lid being too low, then I'm looking from some ideas. I will see what I can do about putting the boat in some water. I may not have any issues, it just seems low to me just looking at the side of the boat. I would have been more comfortable having the overflow tube higher on the boat so that I never have to worry if I happen to load more people in the boat which is highly likely when I go home and visit family. It could be myself and my GF and my sister and her husband. It should never be more than 4 people or basically two couples, or possibly 3 guys. There wouldn't be much room with 4 people anyway, but I don't want to be worried about loading an extra body onto the boat because of where the overflow valve is.

 

[Quackrstackr]

If you are running two pumps, your first picture will work just fine.

You will have to put a valve of some sort on your overflow line to keep the pump from just circulating it back into the livewell when you go to empty it.

Your overflow can even be under the waterline if need be but your livewell will always get water in it unless you have valves on both lines.

 

[Macgyver]

I went back and looked at all your pictures on the other thread. I think if you came straight out near the top of the live well and straight out the side with an overflow you'll be fine as far as height. looks to be WELL above the waterline, but to be sure I'd do as quackr said and get it in the water to determine just how it'll sit and where the water line comes to . if for nothing else but to ease your mind about it all .

I have a 750 GPH pump on mine with a 1 1/2" overflow out the side and I have yet to have it not flow out as fast as it comes in . another thing to keep in mind is the the GPH rating on these pumps is different the higher, longer, and/or smaller the hose is or the way it's routed. I see you have a standard bilge pump hose on it and that is less restrictive so the flow will be good. mine I run through a 5/8" ID garden hose so I get good pressure from it for my 3' long spraybar. I only use the pump inside the livewell to pump it out and/or recirculate the water when I'm running with the big motor as I can't pump water in then. when I am trolling around I only use the livewell pump mounted in the transome to pump water in, the excess water runs out the overflow .

 

[cybereyes]

I may be just thinking this boat sits lower in the water than it does, I really hope so, considering the weight I have placed in it with all the mods as well. My only saving grace is the fact that this boat is so wide. It just looks like if I came straight out from the top of the livewell that it would be in water. Not because of having it in water before because I have no idea on this boat, it just looks like it would be a water area. I guess I will see. I'm going to have to put a bunch of weight in the cooler too to simulate having it filled, and maybe even some weight in the livewell. I don't want to find out once a group of people step onto my boat.

 

[cybereyes]

Ok, so I took the boat to some water today and I was wrong. The water doesn't even come close to the point where it will hurt. I had no idea that the boat would sit that high in the water. So all is good. I can keep everything where it is and just take the overflow straight out from the livewell.

With the boat sitting in the water by itself the water only came up to where the 1st white line is. With both of us in the boat and me leaning over the edge to see where I could get the water to, it came up to the 2nd white line. The arrow marks the spot where the through hull overflow port will exit. So I think I'm good even with the extra weight of stuff in the cooler and in the livewell.

 

[Macgyver]

yep , figured that'd be the case. just go straight out with the overflow and your good to go .

 

[cybereyes]

Yup you were right. I never realized how high these things sit in the water. I was expecting it to be very close, but it wasn't. If you look at my pics in the other thread of the aerator pump hole coming out the transom, you see how low it is, and my GF said when she leaned over the back of the boat it was just barely covered with water. She only weighs 120 pounds but still. I'm very pleased with the result of this test.

 

[Macgyver]

cool, ya may want to put a screen over that pick up to keep it from clogging up with crud and veggies.

 

[Quackrstackr]

Good to see that it is all working out.

I was thinking... man, this guy has either put some serious weight into that boat or it has some super low sides for it to sit that low in the water. :lol: