G'day team,
I've been wanting a way to keep live bait alive for a while but have never got around to coming up with a plan and doing it. Mainly because I can't see a simple way to do it without drilling holes etc which I'm reluctant to do. Also a deck wash would be nice to have when things get a bit messy.
Any guys with seafarers (Vermont/Viking 5.9/6m) hulls got any ideas to share to inspire me.
Could probably get by without the deck wash but don't see it being too much extra plumbing to get both.
Would a deck wash pump be ok for intermittent bait tank duties? I had a deck wash on my old Noble which doubled as a bait tank pump and that worked fine for the couple of years I had it.
What's the easiest way to get water into the hull? I'm thinking a hose going over the transom would be best as the pump will have to lift water in and if anything fails the boat won't fill up with water.
Or cut the deck wash away. Throw a bilge pump on a bracket on the transom and be done. A bucket of water and rag does a similar job to a deck wash after all.
Any ideas you may have would be great. Pics of your setup also great.
Thanks
Marchy.
A pump on the transom is the better way to go, you can get them with deck wash bypass as well. My deck wash eventually failed and it was amazing how much I missed it as even the deckies got used to using it an the clean up once back home was much simpler. Just remember to put a shutoff valve between the pump and the transom as that small pipe will push a lot of water into your hull if underway in a very short amount of time.
Just put a through hull pick up in Marchy. If you screw anything to the back of the boat you have created a spot for water to get into the transom anyway so no real gain. Through hull pick up with a ball valve into a dual port bait pump with a deck wash take off, separate pump for the deck wash. The deck wash pumps draw a lot more current than a dedicated live well pump and are typically a fair bit noisier as well.
https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_i...AbsolutePage=3
This is what I had in mind. Run it up through the step on the back keeping holes above the waterline.
However I might look into your idea Scottar it does seem a little more user friendly.
Biggest issue with a bait tank pump in regard to your plan Marchy is that they are not self priming. I have one of those on my boat but the through transom pipe and pump must be below water level when at rest or the pump won't work. At speed it would be ok as the scoop would be forcing water in. The deck wash pumps usually are a self priming pump and can be mounted up higher - usually up behind the rear lounge backrest on a Victory - assume yours would be the same. My rig actually has independent pick ups - bait tank is through the transom but below water level, deck wash pick up is through the bottom of the hull more or less immediately below where the bait pump is. Both inlets have their own ball valves No need for two holes though these days with the dual port pumps.
Other trap with the 5.9 hulls is that the bait tank wasn't necessarily sealed around the top (Seafarer don't have this on their own either) meaning that once the tank is filled or if a fish manages to block the overflow, water runs over the top and down over where your battery/oil tank normally is (think you moved yours though) . Stick your head in the tank and have a good look - fairly easily rectified with a tube of Sika or similar (just a bit messy - I hate Sika LOL).
This is the realestate I have to play with which should be plenty. Looking in bilge area locations for through hull pick up are limited to directly In front of the prop. Unless I put an Inspection hatch next to my oil bottle. Maybe I'll just take it to someone and get them to do it. I always seem to over think things.
Standard Seafarer set up there mate. Pretty straight forward to do provided you don't have a transducer on the transom on the port side. Shouldn't need any of the space beside the oil bottle. If you lie on your back and look up at the area that is behind the back rest for the rear lounge, there is usually enough space on either side just inboard of where the bait tanks finish to mount a deck wash - put one there on a Victory a couple of weeks back and I think the Vermont is a similar set up. Only thing you need to do in addition is check and make sure the bait board through deck mount fittings are sealed and fit a drain hose to prevent any water running down over the pump.
By all means seal up around the top of the well / tank as I have done in my Vag and I also found a really effective way to manage water depth in the well is to remove the drain plug and inset a length of poly pipe in it. At the top of this pipe fit a tee with two short lengths of more poly and cut the end at 45 degrees so you have a hooded entry.
The long section of the cut pipe goes to the top and the benefit of hooded entry is that it prevents the formation of a vortex so the pipe runs full and so the tank level can be kept well below the top. Just push the poly pipe further into the outlet for less depth. Alternatively have several different lengths of poly pipes to poke into the outlet with the tee on top to set the water height in the live bait well / bin / wet tank.
Cheers
Chimo
What could go wrong.......................
That's similar to what I was going to do with poly but drill holes from a point upwards and just cut until I find a good depth. Also install a top drain up high so it can be near full too. But different length pipes works too.
Hooded entry pipe cuts work much better.
You can use the same system to good affect as the entry point to discharge massive volumes of roof water if you use rain heads.
The trick that most plumbers do not know is to mount the water entry from the rain head sideways with a hooded entry so as to avoid the dreaded vortex that severely limits the flow into the down pipe.
Do a test yourself and you will see the difference in flow. I also used to use the same system to reduce the damage to grassed dam spillways by discharging large constant trickle flows via large pvc pipe so grass only carried flows for very short periods.
C
C
What could go wrong.......................
Yep, agree with Scott. Whichever way you go use lots of sikflex. I tend to drill holes a little larger, use heaps of sika, it's easy enough to clean off the excess rather than repair water ingress later.Originally Posted by scottar
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