Glen-L.com

Hey I was really surprised that I did not find anything about making livewells when I searched the forum.

Does anyone have any good methods to make one? As well anyone have any good recommendations on size and where to place one on a cruisette?

I am far from that point yet but want to have as much of the boat planned out in advance as possible. From what I can tell searching around on google you basically just need some form of air rock, etc to get some air into the water.

Any websites or tutorials would be great, No idea how you would rig it up to drain properly or even what to make one out of.

Thanks.

I imagine some of the live wells are area specific. Check out, google live bait larry and Pacific edge and you may find them a good resource.Good luck.

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) Champagne dreams and wishes are possible on a beer budget. Just build the boat.
Nice curves are easy on the eyes.
Go sell crazy somewhere else we're all stocked up here."As Good As It Gets" Jack Nicholson.

Around here a live well is not square, it is rounded so that Menhadden don't kill themselves in the corners.
Also, you don't necessarily need the air stones for airing the water,, you can supply continuously fresh water constantly changing the water to keep the bait fresh; with this setup you need a big water supply pump, and also a big drain.

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God Bless our Troops; especially our Snipers

in my part of the world we can not use live bait so we have no need of live wells other than to keep what we catch alive. As far as building one you can us poly insulation board for your form taped together with duck tape then start laying epoxy for a couple of layer so you get a nice think coat then then use fiberglass cloth and wet it out then build up from there. this process is costly though and probably could buy a pre made tank cheaper than making it. using fresh water from the source you are fishing in is a good idea. air stone you can get from any pet store that sell live fish and you just add a air pump to it.

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Don't be afraid to attempt anything. You might surprise your self in the attempt.
http://www.facebook.com/Home.Made.Boat.Building
Modified Jubilee-"Wild Flower" 40' house boat
14' Mr John-Wild Flower 2
32' Supper Huck- Wild flower 3

Rod H

No live bait, is it a cruelty thing ,we get best resultes with live bait......

Old Aussie....Peter...

not really we just don't want invasive fish spices in our waters/ I understand this more than general public here I used to work for the Parks and rec here in Utah. And we have in some lakes a very fine eco system and some rare breads of fish that are native only to this area besides we don't want snake heads and such in our water, we have a white bass problem already they are on the state hit list so far they have them contained. being aussie you should know about creatures that don't belong you have several introduced species that has been a plague to your country

_________________
Don't be afraid to attempt anything. You might surprise your self in the attempt.
http://www.facebook.com/Home.Made.Boat.Building
Modified Jubilee-"Wild Flower" 40' house boat
14' Mr John-Wild Flower 2
32' Supper Huck- Wild flower 3

Rod H

Yeah I was looking at the livewell for keeping fish not for bait.

White bass problem, is that freshwater drum? We have so many of those damn things here. Never a limit on them but they are so gross, last time I went out a little ukrainian lady was going around taking everyones. I must have giver her atleast a hundred pounds worth of drum.

The techniques used to keep water out of a hull can be used to keep water in your livewell. A plywood box with a lining of glass cloth & epoxy would hold water, but finding a place for it on the 15 ft Cruisette would be your challenge.

Visit a new boat showroom, or talk to the fishermen at your local boat ramp for ideas. Grady White boats use a small pump to bring in water, allowing the excess to flow out an overflow port near the top. That example was 28 feet long, and had twin 200hp power, for comparison.

Aquarium air pumps are low cost, and run on very little 120vac, easily created from your 12v with a small inverter.

Think about the weight you will have, and how it will iimpact trim. If you put a 12x12x24 inch livewell under a bumk, it will be close to the CB lengthwise, but puts 130 or so pounds on one side for transverse trim. And what about smell? Will it also need a air tight lid & overboard vents to keep the cabin smelling better?

Stability is improved by putting weight as low as possible. If you only want to drain the well after the boat is on the trailer, it could drain via the bilge.

Compared to all that effort, would an old ice chest do the trick? It can be moved as you desire to keep the boat in trim, removed when you don't need it on a cruise, easily replaced with smaller or larger sized chest if you need.

I have had 2 portable wells. The first was made from an old Coleman steel ice chest with the insulation in it. i used a aquarium pump run with a 100 watt inverter.

My current one is a Coleman composite (plastic) with insulation. Nice about this one is it has wheels for easy transport. I added an intake port on the lid and an output port near the top. Vacuum cleaner hose is used for intake and overboard discharge with a 12 volt pump sucking water up from the lake. With proper size hose, the water intake fro Glen-L hardware akes a good intake. I made a cradle patterned after an old time carpenter tool box (open box with handle at top) to carry pump and hoses.

Thoughts: altho I like the wheels (gettin kind of old to play weightlifter), the steel body holds up better to use and travel. The steel body is available again thru various retailers.

Eventually I will decide which plan I want to build first to learn on. I want to start small (and cheap ), maybe a canoe or rowboat for the grandkids, and work up to a super huck fishing deck for me. My daughter was no help........she wants me build a triple cockpit like the Tahoe or Miss Chris (of, at dad's expense for Her to use LMAO). I have wanted a nice size deck for family and fishing for a long time and figure the Super Huck should fit the bill just fine.

Has anyone thought about powering the SH with PWC waterjets for inboard use with shallow water fish capabilities? Is this even feasable?

Glad to be here. You guys turn out beautiful work and I hope to learn alot.

Ed