Thread: Don Bait Well

Hi Don Did you ever get some Pics of your baitwell ? I sure would like to see it as I am almost ready to build mine. I will be back in Casa Grande on Wed to start working on it.

Thanks Bill

Hi Bill!
How was the White Mountains?
Got back from Powell yesterday evening, and will be putting away the sea ray today. I hope to be able to get to the storage yard before dark and get some pics of the livewell on the wellcraft. Want me to email them directly to you, since we can only post 3 on this site?
Don

Don
Sure that would be great. We are still on the mountain but will be returning to the inferno in the am.

I had an art and craft show over the weekend and made enough to finish the boat.

In one way at will be good to get back to Casa Grande and get to work on the boat.

Thanks in advance

Don't Worry be happy
Bill

Hi Bill,
Hot diggity dog, Tyler came to the rescue! "Thanks Tyler", for tweaking the forum so I could add the pictures! I had tittles on each pic so I'll add them if they don't come through. Hope this helps, any questions?

Hi, uh do to my ignorance the pics are in sequence from the bottom up.

Bill, couple of points I meant to add.

If you've had aquariums you know nitrates and ammonias' build up and collect at the bottom of the tank. Many times stressed fish descend to the bottom into this deadly soup. So ideally you should drain from the bottom. I played with different ideas for bottom drains. Finally I chucked those ideas and made the standard standpipe drain tube. I then added the my inlet to the top of the tank, with a drop tube to carry the fresh water to the bottom of the tank. Keeping the fill inlet at the top of the tank with a inlet tube running to the bottom of the tank prohibits the tank from draining providing you add a vent to the top of the fill line. You can always add a anti siphon valve, but the the pressure from the baitwell pump is not very strong (I've had to remove the anti siphon valve from the washdown outlet).


One thing I've learned from from Stuart and Sixty is to have a secondary rear-main bilge pump which is NOT run off a float. This way if the float fails for the main pump, you still have a working rear bilge pump. Also if your main bilge pump fails you have another ready to run.

Another idea; I also carry a spare bilge pump (which is weighted down so it won't float) ready to be added whenever / wherever I need one. It has no switch, and is set up to be directly wired to a battery.
Don

Good job on the baitwell Don!

One thing I heard recently is that you CAN have too much flow that will kill delicate baits (anchovies/ sardines). This doen't really make sense to me, but the Socal guys really know how to deal with those baits, especially since they have to pay for them. I'm not inclined to argue. It is suggested that you put a valve near the inlet that can adjust flow (mine has one from the factory, but I leave it wide open). You may be able to accomplish this by leaving the cap on your raw water washdown outlet and slightly adjust your ball valve. You definatly DO NOT want to limit flow before the pump. They say if your'e flow is correct, it should take 6 or 7 minuites to fill the tank.


Most of the baits I use are very hard to kill (shad (Lake Mead), macks, grunts and bass).


With the cost of vavlves and fittings lately, that looks like an expensive setup, very impressive though!

Now that is one hell of a porta-potty

Wow,
I was not aware of that saltwater baitfish were susceptible to an over o2 condition. Thanks for info, now I'll have an idea if the baits starts expiring. And your correct about the 3 way valve. I can limit the amount of flow to the tank by the valves position. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for the compliment on the tank.

Before I undertook this project I looked at the commercially available tanks and found them to be more expensive, smaller in capacity and did not have the "extras" I wanted. The cost for the brass, stainless and pump was approx. 160.00. The tank I got for free. Total cost, just under $200.00.

I will locate the lines under the deck when I figure out the best routing.

Thanks Don Great pics and info. I do have a couple of questions
How did you cut the tank ?
It appears the cut line of the tank is below the high water line when full. How did you seal the joint where you re attached the top of the tank ?
How much of the tank did you cut out before re attachment ?

Don't Worry Be Happy
Thanks again Bill