portable livewell ( yall asked for it )

[diggin4grouper]

sorry that the pics when missing for a while had a problem with the account and it messed things up should be back up now .....


well since i have had a flood of emails asking me me where to get the stuff to build my livewell , i have decided to make a thread on it ... and the emails arent just from this site . so here it goes


here is a list of things you will need

1, 30 gal plastic drum ,
2, a livewell pump of atleast 500 gph or highier
3, adjustable spray head
4, tubeing that fits both the spray head and the pump
5, some type of strainer that will fit on the threads of the intake to keep scales and other items out of the pump
6, a drain
7, a tube of sealent
8, a drill with hole saw to fit the size of the inlet for pump and spray head
9, a jig saw or sawsaw to cut the drum


now you want to cut the drum to your size needed mine is cut to about 20 to 21 inches high and this is about 25 gals, but i have the spray head about at the 20 gal level anf this leaves a little bit of room on the top for fish that like to jump ( it dont stop them all but helps )

now that you have the drum cut , use the hole saw and cut a hole in the side near the bottom about 5 inchs from the ground this will leave room for the pump and the strainer , now put some sealent around the base of the inlet pipe and screw the nut on .

cut the hole for the spray head and install the same as the pump ,

cut a hole just under and to the side of the pump to put the drain

now cut a piece of bilge hose to fit and install with a small bit of sealent and lit it all dry for about 4 hours

now the inlet pipe that is sticking out from the inside of the tank cut it down to roughly 2 inchs from the nut and install the strainer

now you can either cut handles in the drum or use rope to make the handles






now you have a livewell all you need is a batt to run it and a way to charge the batt ........ good luck and tight lines .. all links below are fro items needed ...

http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=plasti ... &_osacat=0
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... 00_225-3-5
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... 00_225-3-5
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... 00_225-3-5
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... 00_225-3-5

[Morpheus]

WOW

[MoJo]

Ohhh My i have to say nice post!

[WhoDey]

Damn, nice one dude!

[fishnfool73]

One of the best how to threads I have seen on this or any other sites. Thanks for taking the time out to share this with the site .

[xtheline]

Great tutorial! thanks for taking the time.

[james380]

Great post. I'll never need anything that big, but I can imagine this we'll be put to good use by many.

[bolo]

Few questions, The plastic drum wall thickness looks very thin. How well does this hold shape when you have it fill up? Im pretty sure its not that stable if you plan to transport it from location to location. Also, since the wall thickness is thin how fast does the water warm up? How often do you change your water to keep the water temp cool in the heat of summer?

[diggin4grouper]

Few questions, The plastic drum wall thickness looks very thin. How well does this hold shape when you have it fill up? Im pretty sure its not that stable if you plan to transport it from location to location. Also, since the wall thickness is thin how fast does the water warm up? How often do you change your water to keep the water temp cool in the heat of summer?

mine is some what thin and it has held up well to the beating it has taken , yes it will flex but when you put the water in it ,it goes right back to being round again . no worries its a proven design and will keep your alive ,when we go to sebastian inlet to fish off the pier we get bait somewhere else due to there all kinds of yo-yo's throwing for the mullet there and we want to fish and not have to worrie about the bait , but any how we leave it in the truck while we get bait and put about 10-15 gals in it and run the pump and add the bait we caught and i have lifted it out of the back of the truck and in to the wagon and it has held up to that to plus it has blew out of the truck on the way to get bait and we picked it up and has worked fine , going from location to location if you dont have a wagon it will take two people to carry it with water in it , on an 85-90 deg day we change the water about every 4 or 5 hours and the water is luke warm , and in doing this we have kept bait in it for up to 24 hours at the house just going down to the river and get the water , im sure it will last longer with a 2 litter bottle frozen , mullet , shrimp, pinfish, maharra's, and ballyhoo .but if your worried that the water is going to heat up just frezze a 2 litter bottle and toss in there ....... but with the temps the way they are right now last trip we made out to sebastian we didnt even change the water and we were there for like 10 hours and our batt was still going strong ( need to test that to see how long it will run the pump ) haven ran the batt down that far yet

[bolo]

Thank you for answering my questions. Great write up by the way.

[diggin4grouper]

np bolo anytime , i filled it up ater i posted thismoring and its still running as of now 4 am to 5 pm about 12 hours now , and the water is still flowing im going to take it off in a few hours thats more than ill ever need it for ...

[dannyboy]

Thanks for the write-up. Couple questions: where can you get the 30 gal barrels in the Ft. Lauderdale area?, does the spray head also aerate the water? I've used the Keep Alive venturi pumps and they create tons of small bubbles but also a lot of foam on the water which I'm not sure is good. I understand how your pump set up would recirulate the water but I don't underestand how it aerates. Thanks again for the post.

[diggin4grouper]

Thanks for the write-up. Couple questions: where can you get the 30 gal barrels in the Ft. Lauderdale area?, does the spray head also aerate the water? I've used the Keep Alive venturi pumps and they create tons of small bubbles but also a lot of foam on the water which I'm not sure is good. I understand how your pump set up would recirulate the water but I don't underestand how it aerates. Thanks again for the post.

not sure where you can find them in your area check some of the carwashes and if theres a coke plant some where like coke ,pespi ect you can get them from them too . ebay has them heres the linkhttp://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38.l1311&_nkw=plastic+drum&_sacat=See-All-Categories

as far as aerateing the water when it comes from the spray head with it going back in to the water it makes its own bubbles and puts o2 back in the water and yes it does put foam on top now and then depending on how dirty the water is you put in it i just skim it off with the bait net ....

[MoJo]

I have seen a few of those barrels listed localy in Craigslist on occasion, Under the general or material categories.

This listing was just posted 1 hour ago
http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/mat/922447820.html

[dannyboy]

Oh, EXCELLENT! Thanks.

[bolo]

Make the container did not use to store chemicals. The plastic will absorb the chemical and can kill sensitive baits.

[diggin4grouper]

Make the container did not use to store chemicals. The plastic will absorb the chemical and can kill sensitive baits.

not true mine used to have tire cleaner in it . and it was acid based so ... and my bait is doing fine and lively

[bolo]

Make the container did not use to store chemicals. The plastic will absorb the chemical and can kill sensitive baits.

not true mine used to have tire cleaner in it . and it was acid based so ... and my bait is doing fine and lively

That didnt work for me. My shrimp keep dying on me all the time. Couldnt figure it out until I realize it had chemical in it before. Fish bait doesnt seem to mine but shrimp seems to be more sensitive to it.

[Cookinman]

Make the container did not use to store chemicals. The plastic will absorb the chemical and can kill sensitive baits.

not true mine used to have tire cleaner in it . and it was acid based so ... and my bait is doing fine and lively

That didnt work for me. My shrimp keep dying on me all the time. Couldnt figure it out until I realize it had chemical in it before. Fish bait doesnt seem to mine but shrimp seems to be more sensitive to it.

I have an extra large downbucket I use sometimes for big baits or anytime I am going to fish more than just a couple hours that held Swimming Pool stabilizer a while back - I actually just washed it out really well a few times then submerged it into the canal behind my house - After a while, when Algae started to grow on the inside plastic, I figured it was now usable - Took a few weeks, but the algae test seemed to work well - no bait die offs....

[permitchaser]

digging i will make me one ASAP this boy is a genious lol

[crashmister]

Diggin; great post. Thanks!