Reply With QuoteIt allows you to pull the pipe & drain the tank.
Hi there,
I see some plumbed bait tanks in even new boats that have the fill tube pipe comes up from the bottom of the tank?
Is there any advantage to this other than it would get in the way all the time?
It allows you to pull the pipe & drain the tank.
Is this the prefered type?Originally Posted by Fed
Normally it's just a overflow & drain - filling comes via another means .
It's still a Pain in the ass …… it gets in the way
If you want to keep larger fish in there …… to keep alive like a jack - the pipe can be damaged as it's usually a screw in pipe .
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
Seems odd that premium manufacturers would use these. I have seen them on boats over 150k?
Would imagine it would be hard to get a scoop net in there too?
I have one like this and it is not a problem. The boat is a Caribbean Reefruner, les than 2yo, so its not exactly downmarket. Filler/aerator comes in at the top on one side. Screw in on the bottom for drain. You cut the pipe to length to get the water at the designed level. The tank is not large--it only looks like not much more than 20 litres, actually holds about 40. I only use it to hold live bait, not large fish. A scoop net fits in no worries, I've never had a problem. We even keep bridled baits in there, two at a time, during sailfish comps. Just drop them in and shut the lid on the line so they can't swim around too much and tangle with one another while we are hunting the bait balls. We don't use really large baits like big slimies, don't get them over here, although we do use wrasse up to 30cm long. More common size is yakka-type species. I think the advantage is ease of use--just screw it in, turn it on. No pump out or the need to get under the tank to drain it. Also , if you are filling from the bottom, you need to have an overflow somewhere. These tanks will commonly flow over the side at the top of the tank, and this means you can have a lot of water blown around on a windy day. With the central upright type, you have the outlet draining out through the side below the tank level, so that is not an issue.
Also, with the top fill type, you are getting oxygenation free, as it is a spray onto the surface. If it fills from the bottom, and you don't want to extra expense of an aerator built in, you are just getting plain water. Some might speculate that if you are filling from the top, and draining from the top, you have dead water at the bottom. This doesn't happen, at least with my tank.I keep a lot of bait happy all day in warm temps.
Thanks for your experience . If they are good enough for a reef runner than they must be the go.
I used this setup as it was the one offered by the boatbuilder. Caribbean do not offer this as an option from the factory--their business model is to supply the basic boat and have dealers/outfitters do it the way the owner wants. very different from the "vertical integration" model of some like Cruisecraft, who send them from the factory fully fitted..
They come with two transom storage tanks, stainless drain on the bottom out through the transom. You can leave them as storage, or plumb one/both as livewells quite easily. I lost one of those as i had the boatbuilders optioned transom door cut into one side. The standard transom drain is only 20mm, so I figured it wouldn't drain well enough to work properly. rather than enlarge it, I left it there--it made a very handy cable entry for the paddlewheel/temp sensor that came with the Merc 150. Ran a new one out the side level with the bilge pump outlet. The existing bottom entry was easy to get at and enlarge. It took a while, but I managed to find the same kit online, in Australia, as the boatbuilder was using, and did the job a lot cheaper than he was quoting. The kit, if you want to go this way, is the best approach, rather than trying to cobble it together with plumbing fittings from Bunnings.
If I was using this as a fish keep tank, to keep large eating catch alive, it would still be OK-, obviously relative to the actual size of the fish vs the size of the tank-when you want to access them, just unscrew the upstand, and they are not going anywhere, are they?
I had the overfow plumbed straight thru the transom on one of my boats. Bloody bait kept sticking their nose in the hole blocking it and then water would be pumping and overflowing straight into the bottom of the boat. Unseen until the auto bilge pump kicked in. Tried various ways to prevent this but never really worked all that well and a constant worry. Either the bait (or me) would knock out any screen I installed, or it would block up with scales etc.
The overflow pipe from the bottom in my current boat doesnt suffer this problem at all.
Only issue now is the pump pickup is out of the water when under way. One pump ruined by forgetting this.
(I know.... easily fixed with a 90° bend..... one day)
Cheers
Gurn
I have had a few lbt's the fill at top and side drain circulation at the bottom of the tank has been fine for me 35L tank 19 yakkas moderate size to them as they swim around they stir the water ever so gently so u get a even distribution of oxygen throughout the tank its not like the water is stationairy i acutally run my pump for 1-2mins every 15-20mins with the above amount and species in the middle of summer and have never lost one its actually better to not have the pump run continously as it stirs the water the bait fish are constantly swimming i found my bait fish tend to hold the bottom of the tank but when the pump is running the circulation actually forces the fish to swim head down tail up as they try to maintain bottom of tank
Sent from my SM-G900I using Ausfish mobile app
So how does the Cruisecraft tank drain if the pump turned on and its overflowing?
With the upstand pipe do you mean you can remove it and still use the tank for the day?
Thanks for the responses still a bit confused as to how the different tanks work or even which is the best to get if you were to purchase a new boat. I need to find some pictures of Hains,Cruisecraft and see what different manufactures recommend.
Basically, the stand pipe overflow simply eliminates the need for a third hole. You need a fill hole - usually at the top of the tank so as to not drain the tank if the pump is turned off. You need a drain hole in the bottom for when it comes time to empty the tank. If you don't use a stand pipe, you then also need a third hole as an overflow. Both systems work fine. Personally I have home made stand pipes but have had additional overflows in other boats. Both systems need to make sure that bait fish can't get their noses into the overflow and block it - hence the tee's on the top of mine. These are only made from 19mm irrigation pipe as with a few wraps of tape, it sealed nicely into the existing drains. They keep up with the pump (500GPH Johnson) without issue and with the drain placement being on one side it doesn't get in the way. The other advantage of using the standpipe method is the ability to easily alter the depth to which the tank fills if you wish by simply having a few different lengths of standpipe.
Bait tank overflow.jpg
Cheers a good explanation. If you were going to fork out a lot of money on a new say 6m fibreglass boat what system would you choose? I feel like i would prefer to not have the stand pipe but it seems a lot of the manufacturers go that way so it must have it's pro's vs no pipe in the way.
All comes down to cost - extra fittings, extra time, and a bit of extra room (and extra connections as potential leaks). It also means there needs to be sufficient access/space near the top of the tank to plump in the overflow. It's your boat - if you want it done a particular way and are happy to pay any extra involved, ask for it. Personally - I really wouldn't care as to which way it was done provided it worked properly all the time - not just when you are sitting still.
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