Ideas for a pump-less baitwell?

Old school baitwells were transom mounted boxes,
with a pickup tube so that the forward motion
of the hull resupplied the water while on plane.
No electronics, no pumps, no valves,
just a drainplug to remove at the end of the day.
Like on my 1987 Boston Whaler

Waterflow holes just like an old shrimp bucket...




Hinged and locking lid...



Sumpwick hanging out the low point drainhole
and the pickup tube just visible underneath...



Even has an original FCA decal on the transom,
from just prior to the ban the nets campaign.

 

You could also install 2 thru-hull strainers.
One small diameter facing forward, to push water in.
The other a larger diameter facing aft as the overflow.
The height of the large strainer tube would determine
the overflow height. But you'd still need a circulator pump
when not moving. The transom boxes had so many holes
no pumps were needed. A side benefit of the transom box,
the smell of the bait leaked out and acted as a chum line.

 

Just a question. I don't mean to derail the thread. My friend just bought a 19' Robalo. The live well looks rather risky. Its kind of like a jon boat live well. lol It's a compartment just behind the leaning post. Two wooden doors with the live well. There are no pumps or fittings or hoses or nothing. It's just one hole on the bottom that goes down to the bottom of the hull. I know this works on jon boats, but it just looks risky. He was wondering if it's safe. I've seen a couple other boats with similar wells, but they had a pipe going through the hole that raised the hole above the water line. So water comes in when stopped, and leaves when riding. But this is just a hole.

 

Robalo 19 was a Ray Hunt design,
full foam floatation gunnel to gunnel.
Self bailing, pretty much unsinkable.
Water coming in only went so far and that was it.
My guess is, without pictures, the overflow from the well
simply drains out the scuppers in the cockpit.

 

With a free flowing system you would only get the water to be as deep as the water line of how low your boat sits in the water at rest. Good on bigger boats but a boat that is shallow..

In order to hold more water I guess you are thinking scoop up the water while you run up to an overflow tube and trap it with a check valve in your inlet. The thing is you would have to aerate it when you stop.

My thought is since you have to plumb it and power an aereator why not just install a livewell pump?

my $.02

 

solar powered pump?

 

I have always used a free-flowing well in the past, just a square well with two holes drilled through the floor to circulate water. I've always fished with hardy baits though, mullet, pinfish, shrimp, etc. Pogies or greenies wouldn't live long in this set up.

 

I don't mean to further derail this thread. I'm just trying to pick at the brain of Brett a bit. There's no access to a bilge area on his boat. Is that normal? There's no where to put a bilge pump, and the hull is completely closed in. I guess like a whaler. It has some weird looking things with ping pong balls that he said serve as a check valve I guess. The balls allow water to flow in one direction.

 

The ping pong balls are a directional flow control.
Have your friend talk to the guys at the robalo owners forum
for better info on the design and use of the baitwell...

http://www.robaloboatowners.com/forum/

http://forum.robalo.com/index.php?act=idx

I've never owned one, just fished from one.
Here's a post regarding the livewell...

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/7934-1983-robalo.html