1988 230 baitwell mods

[rjd]

My '88 230 has the transom baitwell with 2 lid access. There is a bottom drain on the starboard side. There are no other holes in the tank. The tank is not insulated so I assume it is for bait and not a cooler. The boat has no water pickups of any kind.

I would like to add a high speed pickup, pump, valves and sprayer to make this a functioning live/bait well.

Has anyone done this? Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks as always.

Reed

[231CALIFORNIA]

THey are all a bit different but mostly similar.
common but not only method is to put a clamshell pickup in the aft bilge trhoug the hull topped by a seacock  (valve) a strainer sometimes and a 12v pump.
you can also use this for a low pressure washdown with a couple of cheap fittings.
a Y after the pump to a hose bib or valve for deckwash. A 99cent shutoff valve like you see in a garden center at the tank for regulation and shutoff for washdown pressure.
you need something like a 3/4" bilge outlet about $3-4,  to put in the top edgeof the well to fill.
a  cocktail bar ruber sink  stopper and enough 1/2" pvc pipe with a screen over the top (or holes drilled in topetc)  to overflow tank down drain.
the rest is 3/4 inch hose and clamps.
 an on off switch, some wire and connectors and your good to go.
make sure the lid will stay down in chop when full or slosh will toss bait overboard.
you can also keep smaller game fish alive in it.
you may be able to spray foam on underside if you want to use it a s a cooler.
mine has a thin innadeqaute layer but keeps ice for a while.

there are lots of ways to skin the cat.
you can also put a bracketed pump at transom and run hose over the back
i have seen  all kinds of devices including engine fed tanks.
I have an oddball I concocted years ago.
I have a Through hull pump like you get at wallmart sticking out the stb side @waterline with a 90degree pvc threaded elbow pointing down and foreward with about 9" of half inch "breakaway"pvc pipe to keep intake in water on plane.
i have a 3 foot piece of 7 strand ss  wire from a rubrail screw to the pipe to keep it in position under any sudden load. I keep a spare fuse a spare pipe, a spare shutoff valve and a wooden  cone plug. on hand.
I connect my washdown hose to the tank inlet  to rinse deck.
I plan on tapping into cooling system someday so i can use bait pump backup  if IO looses cooling water feed pump impelller.
most guys WE fish with use 20-50gal above  deck tanks  but I like deck room.
Eveything is a tradeoff.

[rjd]

Thanks for the reply and the detailed description.

Yes I too are trying to save space. I figured I'd give the built in a try. How many gallons do you figure it holds?   

[231CALIFORNIA]

pour in a few 5 gal buckets
fill it/bucket first with 1 gal at a time and mark bucket
that will get you within a gallon without math

otherwise
231 aprox cubic inches per gallon
measure 3 dim,multiply ,then divide/231
round down for corners, angles, round bottom etc
 about 70-80 % full is about all that stays in mine due to side slosh.

[a7ewizard]

My 251 has the transom live-well and a small sink to port. I don't know the livewell's capacity....but it isn't much. It works well for a dozen shiners but it beats up anchovies and other fragile baits.

In any wind chop, my boat drifts sideways to the wind and chop. The resulting sloshing in the livewell rolls the baits. If your well is similiarly configured....that is shallow and very oval, I would recommend that you buy a Kodiak style of tank and install it back near your transom.

I made my own from a 35 gallon barrel and mounted it against brackets to the front of my motor box. It is completely removable. A 800gph (Rule cartridge bait pump, 3/4 inch fittings) is well matched for this capacity.

[231CALIFORNIA]

A7
That sounds like my 231 ,port "sink",  I put a couple pounds of frozen bait in it.
Center oval , shallow, sloshes, I tie my lid down with a peice of cord to a plastic tiedown loop right in front of it.
It  "holds" a Half Scoop of Anchovies or sardines (2 dips of my local vendors Net)
and many of them roll over but enough stay kicking to do the job and fresh dead works on hot bite.  still better than some of the tine tanks in soem boats but not  up to pacific standards.
Thinking about putting a round plastic" barrel" tank on top of I/O cover but ive had to get into that thing a time or 2. migh jsut go with a smaller 20-25 gallon model so its not so large and split the bait into 2 zones. dont want to go too big or cumbersome.
also they make good fishwells  and bleed buckets after the bait has done its job
 

[a7ewizard]

I need to shoot some pictures of my set-up. It works great. Here is a description:

I made a pair of brackets out of 1x6 composite decking. Mounted to the front of the motor box. The live well barrel sits on the cockpit deck, abuts against the brackets, and fastens to the bracket with a pair of cinch tight nylon webbing straps.

The existing livewell was modified with a shut off spout at the transom and the water line was "T"d into. At the front of the motor box, I installed a tank fitting. This screws together and fastens tightly to the box. Add a fitting and cap which serves to shut the flow when not in use. When in use, a short piece of garden hose connects the motor box outlet to the tank.

The tank drains via a hose which runs aft on top of the motor box and exits out thru the transom door. For this, I cut a small hole in this door. Alternatively, This drain could have been plumbed back thru the motor box and out via a new thru-hull fitting or into the existing drain line......but I thought it too much work to do this.

The barrel's top was cut to make a hinged lid. 2 more tank fittings and assorted PVC pieces were used to complete the plumbing.

If I ever needed to access the engine during a trip, open the tank's drain valve and scoot the tank aside to tilt open the box. Not a problem.

[rjd]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have the boat down at our summer place. Headed down in March to do a tuneup and work on the baitwell. I'll report back then.

Reed

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