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I am currently "building my bass boat." I have a 14ft aluminium boat, i rigged up a trolling motor on the bow and cut a piece of plywood to fit over over the front two seats. My plan was to put a livewell under it. I am on a budget (otherwise i would buy a real boat), how would i go about putting in a small live well? Will a large tupperware container work? What kind of aerator pump should i get? Any other thoughts?
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The biggest problem with tupperware is that it is not really strong enough to stand the weight and splashing of the water. You would need to just use it as a liner for lets say a plywood box. Next, fish use the bathroom in the same water in which they swim. This water then contains amonia which will burn the fish's gills such that they can no longer extract oxygen from the water. Nature takes care of this problem with natural bacteria which eat the amonia, but in a small closed area, there will not be enough bacteria to eat the all the amonia which several bass will put into the live well. So the water in the live well needs to be constantly replaced with fresh water to thin down the amonia build up. Thus you will need a bulkhead fitting to connect the live well to the outside of the boat. It would just be simpler to build a couple of plywood boxes with plenty of small holes drilled in the bottoms and mount them on the stern of the boat, one on each side of the motor. -
With you and a trolling motor on the front and first two seats of a 14' boat it may be too unstable. you may need a second person in the back to even it out.
I like the idea of using a container along side the boat for live well.Comment
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Sounds like a good idea, I'll try that.Comment
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When adding things be careful of the weight. Add stuff and float it. If you and your gear and buddies are too much, or you draft too much (for fishing in shallow rivers and streams), you will be then pulling stuff back out. Been there.
I have never done the live well thing (see above on weight), but I sure thought about it. Try a use (big) cooler and wall mart bilge pump in the bottom for the live well. As it bilges water out have a new sam size hose pulling in fresh water to the bottom.Comment
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Just wondering, how did you rig you trolling motor to the bow? I'm assuming you didn't get one of those expensive bow mount since funds are limited. Wondering cause I'm trying to think of a clever way to mount a smaller transom mount to the bow. I'd like to be able to controll the position of my Jon boat from the front for bass fishingComment
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I have already though about weight. I have a light motor, light gear, and i am trying to lose a few pounds before summer. Apparently people can't handle me when i'm fishing, i "take it to seriously," so i fish by myself.
Ncarl- I love having the motor on the front. It is so much easier to control in the wind. It took some time to figure it out, but i cut wood into some wedges to make the mount vertical and support the sheet metal. Its kinda hard to explain, just play around with it. My boat is a V-hull, so it will be a little different for you, but it can be done cause i had a buddy who did it on his jon. Be careful too. Have you ever seen that Bill Dance blooper where the trolling motor jumped off the boat when he turned it up, that happened on my first trial.Comment
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