REVENGE 22 Live Well Modifications

Repair or modification of Boston Whaler boats, their engines, trailers, and gear
Vance's Revenge
Posts: 116
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:37 am
Location: Northern California

REVENGE 22 Live Well Modifications

Postby Vance's Revenge » Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:58 am

I changed all the original thru-hulls in my Revenge 22 [to use fiberglass tubes for the drains in place of the original brass tubes].

I used the the Max Gain thicker wall tubes for the drains in the hull transom and for a new through-hull in the live well.

transomDrain_.jpg
Fig. 1. New Transom Drain
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liveWell_.jpg
Fig. 2. Live Well on REVENGE 22 with deck removed, seen from starboard.
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In Figure 2 [above] at the far right-middle is a 1-inch inspection tube I installed between the fuel tank cavity and the aft live well. The big tube in the right-middle is a live well drain tube. I used Marine Tex to join it to a Cam Lever coupling. At upper left is a 1-inch tube. I used Marine Tex to join the tube to the elbow.

On the left are three tubes which are part of five drain tubes. A 1-1/4-inch drain goes through the gunwale height stern wall I made. Two on the outside go clear through the transom and are capped with ball scuppers. And the three in the middle drain into the engine splash well.

The process [on installing the tubes] is:
  • buy an $8 sanding drum kit from Harbor Freight;
  • put [the sanding drum] in your drill
  • enlarge the holes slightly larger than the tube OD
  • clean the hole with acetone
  • epoxy the tube in with Marine-Tex
.

I did this on every tube in my boat. If Boston Whaler would have done this originally we wouldn't have all these boat with water in the foam.

jimh
Posts: 11672
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: REVENGE 22 Live Well Modifications

Postby jimh » Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:07 am

You have really added a lot of new plumbing to the REVENGE 22 aft live well. Can you give us a diagram of all the valves, hoses, and overboard drain paths you have created? Also, I don't understand the component you describe as " the gunwale height stern wall I made."

Vance's Revenge
Posts: 116
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:37 am
Location: Northern California

Re: REVENGE 22 Live Well Modifications

Postby Vance's Revenge » Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:09 pm

jimh wrote:You have really added a lot of new plumbing to the REVENGE 22 aft live well. Can you give us a diagram of all the valves, hoses, and overboard drain paths you have created?


The plumbing is not for the original live bait tank. The original live well is unsuited as a live bait tank for anglers using anchovy bait. The live well is much better utilized as a fish box filled with ice to keep your caught fish fresh.

New On-deck Bait Tank

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Fig. 3. The new on-deck bait tank.
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The plumbing you see is for removable live bait tank I mounted on the deck of the boat. The plumbing is also a supply hose for a wash down pump line that can be seen [in Figure 2] going through and down the port side rigging tunnel.

The raw water supply is plumbed through a 1-inch ID fiberglass tube (which has been] threaded for the elbow fitting. This travels through the original engine splash well into the original live well just below the deck cover. For additional strength and clearance, all of the supply manifold's PVC tube and valves are mounted to the side of the original live well on 1/4-inch plywood pads coated with epoxy that are epoxied to the side of the tank. .

I designed the live bait tank to be easily removed or installed in a matter of 5 to 10 minutes utilizing cam-lock valves on the supply and drain.

All of the plumbing for the tank goes up through a 4-inch circular deck access plate for which I have two plate lids. One deck plate lid with holes in the lid for the drain tube and supply hose. Then one original for use when the tank is not in place.

To mount the bait tank on the deck for easy removal and not lose the nut under the floor. I welded 1/4" stainless nuts to big stainless body washers. Then drilled I made small holes in each body washer so they could be screwed in place under the floor cover over my fuel tank. Then I mounted the tank using the welded nut-washers and installed stainless screws up into the floor cover which will hold them in place when the tank is removed. The live bait tank sits directly over the original aft deck plate on the fuel tank cover so you have to do all of this while you have both the fuel tank floor cover as well as the original fish box cover removed.

Molding Threads into Fiberglass Tubes

Utilizing fiberglass tubes cut to length and threaded with Marine Tex is easy to customize the plumbing and never need replacement because there is nothing to corrode excluding the cam lock valve that easily screws into place.

Threading the fiberglass tube for your threaded fittings is easy. Well it is easy after laying awake at night for hours thinking for the solution.

  1. Take a threaded valve and coat the valve lower body and threads heavily with Vaseline.
  2. Sand the inside of the fiberglass tube and clean with acetone and install a thick amount of Marine Tex.
  3. Add more Marine Tex to the threads on the Vaseline coated valve and insert the valve into the tube.
  4. Wait 24 hours and unscrew the valve and sand any areas that are obstructing flow.

Enlarged Overboard Drain in Live Well

revengeLiveWellPipe.jpg
Fig. 4. New enlarged overboard drain in live well, initial installation. Threads on the ID were molded onto the fiberglass tube with epoxy and filler. The smaller drain on the bulkhead to the right drains the fuel tank cavity into the live well, or vice versa.
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finishedDrain_.jpg
Fig. 5. Finished drain, now painted, with reinforcement to deck, and with fitting attached.
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The new drain was painted with Awlgrip primer and paint for durability, and reinforced the drain tube with a collar made from Marine Tex epoxy to the floor. Marine Tex can be formed like modeling clay but cures to an extremely strong solid.

New Aft Cockpit Buckhead

deckOverview_.jpg
Fig. 6. Overview of aft cockpit deck showing new hatch cover for live well, new 4-inch circular deck access plate, new aft cockpit bulkhead, and five new drains to remove from the deck to the sea.
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I created a new aft cockpit bulkhead. It is framed with mahogany for strength and to match the gunwales. To get the aft cockpit bulkhead as close to the transom as possible, I had to make a opening center door to accommodate the engine at full tilt-up when the boat is on the trailer.

The aft cockpit bulkhead is unfinished in this picture. When completed it has a mahogany cap across the top finishing it off even with the gunwales on the boat. The design is to make the wall look original and it does. Nobody has been able to tell it is an addition unless they know the original Outrage or Revenge hull.

There are five 1-1/4" fiberglass drains at the bottom. The two outboard drains go under the sides of the engine splash well and drain out scuppers on the stern, and the thee in the middle drain into the original deep engine splash well. All water drains off the deck to either the two outside tubes through the stern or into and out the original deep engine splash well drain.

I replaced the original ball scupper drain at the bottom of the stern with a ball scupper as well.

All ball scuppers used are new TH Marine ball scuppers and work very well as designed.

The waterproof lid for the replacing the original for the live well is made from 3/16" aluminum sheet, with stainless steel hinges and stainless steel waterproof latches.
Last edited by Vance's Revenge on Sun Nov 22, 2020 3:40 pm, edited 19 times in total.

Vance's Revenge
Posts: 116
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:37 am
Location: Northern California

Re: REVENGE 22 Live Well Modifications

Postby Vance's Revenge » Sun Nov 22, 2020 6:33 pm

The inspection tube I installed from the live well to the fuel tank cavity is not threaded. It is a 1-inch tube that I install a simple 1-inch drain plug into. No water can get to the fuel tank unless I forget to install that plug.

I'm not sure why the pictures look so yellow. My Awlgrip was hand matched and incredibly close to the original Desert Tan. I did take those pictures under a fluorescent lamp which might be the problem.

Sorry for the dirty deck picture with the live bait tank. That was taken after a fishing trip with blood and sand on the deck. Where I fish is sand and mud so the deck gets filthy immediately.

After one full season of use everything has worked as intended. I will say that I'm completely satisfied with the project and found that Awlgrip is a incredibly good and hard top coat. This boat had been used hard and the non-skid was unrepairable, so I topped it with Kiwi Grip and I'm not satisfied with it. The Kiwi Grip has nice texture and easy to lay down but does not clean well. Next Spring I'm going to add an additional coat of Kiwi grip and topcoat it with a water based Polyurethane clear. I think it will clean better then.