Live well maintenance

[Hawgwild]

Many may do this already but thought I'd post about some problems I had with my livewell but now fixed. I have a Triton TR-186 which has two pumps to fill the live well, two pumps to recirculate when leaving the lake, and one more to drain the live well. All the pumps are t-800 Tsunami pumps.

I knew I had one of my fill pumps go out so then when the other started making noise I decided to replace both of those. No big deal but had to remove my oil reservoir and shelf it sets on to better get to those. Replaced and all went well. You can buy just the pump core to replace If you want too.

Then decided to wash out my live well and that's when I noticed how clogged the screens were on the recirculate intakes. Really bad. Simple to remove, clean, and screw back on. Also had a bunch of fish scales and some bones down where the pump out intake was. Vacuumed that out with a wet dry vac.  Then back-flushed all the outlets with a power washer.

Amaizing what a little clean-up did to the system. Definitely will be taking a little closer look in the future. 

[Oldfart9999]

Good job, good post!! You might try a bit of bleach in water recirculated through the wells also, kills the germs, just rinse very well.
Rodney

[Bassinkorea]

Great post Hawgwild   

Perhaps this post would be a good fit for the Tips Board. Let me know if you would like me to move it there for you   

[Hawgwild]

Great post Hawgwild   

Perhaps this post would be a good fit for the Tips Board. Let me know if you would like me to move it there for you   

Thanks and no problem. Move if you wish.

[Mike Cork]

Great post! An often overlooked area of boat maintenance!

[Thornback]

I often fish with shiners so I know the importance of a healthy live well. I have had as many as four dozen shiners in my live well. I always catch and release bass so the only time I put a bass in my live well is to give me a couple of minutes to get my tape and digital scale ready to use. Once in a while I'll keep a bass in the live well until I catch another one so I can take a photo of my partner holding two bass. Two makes for a better photo than one. After a fishing trip I always flush out my live well and flush the pump with fresh water. I also keep the recirculating pump screen clean of scales. Shiners can lose a lot of scales. Then from time to time I flush the live well with clean water and a little vinegar to kill off any bacteria. One tip -- I spray painted the bottom of my live well with white paint. It was black and that made it hard to see the shiners. What a difference!

[Bassinkorea]

I often fish with shiners so I know the importance of a healthy live well. I have had as many as four dozen shiners in my live well. I always catch and release bass so the only time I put a bass in my live well is to give me a couple of minutes to get my tape and digital scale ready to use. Once in a while I'll keep a bass in the live well until I catch another one so I can take a photo of my partner holding two bass. Two makes for a better photo than one. After a fishing trip I always flush out my live well and flush the pump with fresh water. I also keep the recirculating pump screen clean of scales. Shiners can lose a lot of scales. Then from time to time I flush the live well with clean water and a little vinegar to kill off any bacteria. One tip -- I spray painted the bottom of my live well with white paint. It was black and that made it hard to see the shiners. What a difference!

That's a tip in itself. You should post that as a new thread in the tips board. You never know when the next Tips Contest will be starting