Live Bait Tanks...

[jackmangrove]

G`day all. Looking to fit a live-bait tank to my ally cat. Wondering if anyone has made their own from eskie`s etc... How well they have worked, plumbing required and the pros and cons of retail vs home made? Cheers!

[Noelm]

best thing about 'home made" is you can fit it where you want to, I never use a pump anymore, just a scoop for when you are travelling and use a bucket when stopped, I just got sick of rusty/broken pumps and switches, the bucket never runs the battery flat or breaks down, the bigger the better (withing reason of course) and the more surface area the better, there is a lot of thoughts on colours and stuff, but I have never really found anything better than any other colour, so what it is is OK, and make sure the overflow drain is big, because the scoop will pump some water in when under way, I also use a 'stopper" click hose fitting to disconnect tank when not needed, works OK and being plastic, it does not rust, by the way do you have an "Alloycat" or are you just being general when you said and "ally cat"??

[jackmangrove]

Thanx Noelm. I`ll take that onboard. No I was just speaking generally...its not an Alloycat its just a custom plate job I bought along time ago. Hoping to get it on the water in the next couple of weeks.....it`s a bit of an urban legend around these parts lol.....spent more time in the back yard than anywhere else. Anyways cheers agtain mate.

[ashh]

if you do a search there is a few other topics with pics on how to DIY a bait tank/ live well. But heres some from mine.
Basically going off what others had done, I fitted one into my 3.7m tinny a few weeks ago and it works a treat. I went the whole hog and fitted a pump as well as the water pick up, as I had a spare switch on the switch panel. I used an converted a 40L ice box that I nabbed off e-bay for $53 brand new.

before I could fit it I had to make up a little platform to get it high enough for the inlet and outlet to get over the seats, bit of messin round but worked out well.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j224/ashgilliver/P4080082.jpg



finished and fitted, I made the outlet larger than shown here from 30mm to 40mm.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j224/ashgilliver/P4080083.jpg



this is the pickup and pump, installed the tap to stop water flow from water pickup when not using the tank.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j224/ashgilliver/P4170001.jpg


this is the tapped drain, that drains right into the bilgepump, open the tap and flick on the bilge pump to empty if on the water, or it just goes out the bung when out of water.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j224/ashgilliver/P4170006.jpg


put to good use;) , I put a piece of white school book sticky contact paper on the bottom to make it easier to find the liveys at night
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j224/ashgilliver/P4140002.jpg


http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j224/ashgilliver/edited.jpg




I chucked a bit of left over marine carpet on the lid as its strong enuf to double as a seat, and can stand on it for casting too...
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j224/ashgilliver/P4170004-1.jpg


when not being used as a baitbox, its a great esky for drinks and food when out skurfing or just crusing around.

hopefully this should give you a few ideas to work with;)

[jackmangrove]

Nice setup......I should have thought of searching this site first so thanx for the tip. I`ll do just that. And thanx for the pics....nothing like a few visuals to see how everything fits together. Cheers mate! :)

[Lucky_Phill]

Good work Ash. I like it.

phill