Makeshift Livewell?

[H20Hunter]

On my 14' boat, I have no livewell and would like to have one. I have no pumps on my boat or anything of the sorts as its an old boat. I see that Cabela's and BPS make systems for them but I had a different idea and wondered how it would work. I thought about buying one of those Igloo coolers, the ones that hold ice for 5 days and then drilling a hole in the top of it for an aerator hose to run thru. Figured I could put some velcro on the top of the cooler and one on the aerator so that it stays in tact. I know I wouldnt have any new water flushing in there, but since I dont keep many fish, do you think this would work? I got tired of dragging around a wire basket last year. Any thoughts on this? Since my boat is small, I thought I could keep the cooler right in the middle to balance the weight. I can carry a bucket w/ me for when I catch a fish to fill up the cooler.

This is what my boat looks like, its a 1965 Lund that I have redone:

Any advice would be appreciated!

[veximan]

Just throwing this out there. It'll depend on how much time and money you want to put into it. My dad has a 16' Lund Tiller. He used a Rubbermaid tub, a pump and some hose to accomplish a make shift live well. I'd say it's been 10 years and it's still working.

I would put it opposite of the drivers seat (left hand side of boat). I can't imagine it was more than $50-$60 to install it. (not sure what the pump goes for). The pump sits back in the transom (next to drain plug) to draw water in on a switch. The hose could run along the side of the boat to the tub (or thru the seat if you set it as far back as it'll go). Then to drain, we have a larger radius hose (radiator hose - 2"-3" dia as the over flow) from tub to outside with a long, 1/2" hose inside it. Long enough to touch the bottom of tub and go outside. To drain, simply suck on the outside end to prime it and it'll drain out on it's own. Sorta like sifening gas...just don't swallow Nothing fancy, nothing great and something definately not worth getting a patent on but it sure beats hauling the basket in and out and around.

If I had some pics, I'd show ya. The boat is about 4 hrs away tho. If you need specifics, let me know. Oh yeah...some silicon would definately be a requirment.

[Cicada]

At one time, I thought I'd like to have a livewell. Everyone had 'em so I should too. Fished with a couple of guys that had them and changed my mind. If I'm going to lose floor space to a cooler, I'll put a layer of ice in the bottom and just use it as a cooler. You want to have enough ice so they don't soak in melted ice water, keep them on top of the ice. I'm not into culling or upgrading the fish I've caught. Fish that are going to die before you're done fishing stay fresh. Fish keep, clean and taste better on ice than in the livewell and if I understand the law correctly, you are not supposed to have water in the livewell after you've trailered the boat. This might be a factor if you are fishing a long way from home. So, on the way home they just slosh around dying or dead and quickly getting warm and mushy. Just my thoughts, it's ( the cooler of ice) worked well for me for years.