Leaking livewell

[beer batter]

First time out in my new used boat and found my livewell leaks. It fills up fine and looks like it holds water, but checking it 20 minutes later it was empty. Nothing like $10 worth of dead shiners 30 minutes into your fishing season :^(

Could not see anything that looked like a crack where it may be leaking so I'm guessing it's leaking around the pipe inserted as the plug. There was no water in the bilge so it must have leaked out the regular livewell drainage line. What would be a way to fix this leak without inhibiting the installation/removal of the pipe? Everything I can think of would be some sort of permanent seal that would have to be redone everytime I pulled out the pipe to drain it. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Beer Batter- I a m assuming that the pipe then serves as the overflow drain, and the drain when done fishing? If this is the case you just need to make sure that its sealed in the bottom of the livewell better?.. Use a rubber washer or some sort. If this isn't the case, use a plug and not a pipe.

[Valv]

Did you run the boat with livewell full and it emptied out ?

It got sucked out from inlet while driving. Livewell pumps don't have a check valve to stop flow backwards, so when you travel water gets sucked back out same way it went in.

Cheapest way to fix it is get a plug for your livewell inlet if it's at the bottom of tank, otherwise you can buy a valve to shut off and on.

If it leaks you will see A LOT of water inside your boat (mostly bilge area), especially if it leaks out empty in 20 minutes..

[beer batter]

Dietz, yes it was the overflow drainage pipe. Valv, I don't believe I did run the boat it just drained while I was fishing on the bow.

The inlet sprays in from the top of the tank so it couldn't have drained back out from that opening. There was no water in the bilge which tells me it's draining directly out of the drainage opening where the overflow pipe is inserted. I'll check the O-rings and see what else looks suspicious around that opening.

Thanks.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Beer batter- I had a livewell just like yours in one of my first boats, its was a tracker type boat.. Anyway I had the exact problem you had. Again, All I did was add a rubber washer and made sure that the post sat in correctly I would also fill it peroidically.

[beer batter]

Mine is a Crestliner Phantom 186 if that makes any difference. It's just one of those little things I missed when I tested the boat last fall. Filled the live-well but didn't wait around 30 minutes to make sure it held the water. Luckily I didn't have much luck with the fish for it to matter this past weekend, just a bucket full of dead shiners.