Outrage 25 Live Well Rain Water
Outrage 25 Live Well Rain Water
The live well in the floor of my 1990 Outrage 25 fills with rain water. I do not like having it full all the time and am trying to come up with a solution to have it dry when I am not using it as a live well. My first thought is to add a float switch to the pump and set the aerator to discharge. Has anyone else dealt with this concern and if so, did you take a different approach?
Re: Outrage 25 Live Well Rain Water
I installed a small RULE centrifugal pump with a separate float switch actuator in the aft live well in the cockpit of my Boston Whaler REVENGE 22 W-T Whaler Drive boat. I made that modification after a cruise during which we had very heavy rainfall overnight. I awoke to find the stern live well completely filled to the brim with rain water, and all of my gear stowed there floating or submerged in the water.
I found the small RULE centrifugal pump could lift the water out of the live well to the deck level. The exhaust hose from the pump directs the water overboard through the large diameter cockpit drain that is cut into the transom flush with the deck on a Whaler Drive boat. If the pump had to lift the water much higher, I have my doubts about its capacity. If you plan a similar installation, make sure the pump you select has sufficient power to lift the pump exhaust water as high as necessary to get it out of the boat.
The bottom of the live well is in a V-shape. I installed the pump on one side of the sloping bottom, getting its intake as close to the v-bottom center as possible. I installed the float switch on the other slope of the v-bottom.
As always when designing a control system involving a pump and float switch, be certain that the location of the float control switch allows for the pump to remove enough water to cause the float control to return to the OFF state. For more details about float control switch location and pump location, see my article at
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... ePump.html
I like the somewhat old-fashioned approach to pump control of using a float switch. Such a control system consumes no power when in the OFF state. The more modern approach to control which has the pump motor turning on at intervals to judge if there is water that needs to be removed imposes a continual drain on the battery. It also leaves more electronic components in the pump to go bad. With the float switch control method there are no electronics in the system--just simple DC passive components like a mechanical switch to control the pump motor.
I found the small RULE centrifugal pump could lift the water out of the live well to the deck level. The exhaust hose from the pump directs the water overboard through the large diameter cockpit drain that is cut into the transom flush with the deck on a Whaler Drive boat. If the pump had to lift the water much higher, I have my doubts about its capacity. If you plan a similar installation, make sure the pump you select has sufficient power to lift the pump exhaust water as high as necessary to get it out of the boat.
The bottom of the live well is in a V-shape. I installed the pump on one side of the sloping bottom, getting its intake as close to the v-bottom center as possible. I installed the float switch on the other slope of the v-bottom.
As always when designing a control system involving a pump and float switch, be certain that the location of the float control switch allows for the pump to remove enough water to cause the float control to return to the OFF state. For more details about float control switch location and pump location, see my article at
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... ePump.html
I like the somewhat old-fashioned approach to pump control of using a float switch. Such a control system consumes no power when in the OFF state. The more modern approach to control which has the pump motor turning on at intervals to judge if there is water that needs to be removed imposes a continual drain on the battery. It also leaves more electronic components in the pump to go bad. With the float switch control method there are no electronics in the system--just simple DC passive components like a mechanical switch to control the pump motor.
Re: Outrage 25 Live Well Rain Water
Thanks Jim. I agree with your preference for a float switch vs water sensing pump.