DIY Kayak Baitwell Livewell

I wanted to get my livewell completed before the TJM Tournament at Hook, Line and Paddle in Wilmington but I did not have all the parts so I used a Flo-troll bucket. Don't get me wrong the Flo-troll served its purpose but putting the bucket in and out of the water to keep the bail alive was a chore and not my primary concern which should have been catching fish. The DIY baitwell is a solid solution with the only possible drawback that the pump could create some noise the fish might not like. I figured it was worth a shot. I purchased a 40 lb Gamma Vittle Vault at my local super pet supply store. I did see there is a similar model available online is 60 lbs which would add some capacity as a livewell but it would be too much weight in the back of your kayak..

First I drilled my holes for the inlet and outlet. I used a spray head that could be adjusted to turn the flow up or down. This hole was 1 inch. Next was the outlet with is standard at any marine store. This one is 1 1/2 inches and my though was I did not want the water backing up in the tank or tank well since my Jackson Cuda doesn't have scuppers in the tank well.

If your does you can run your intake through a scupper hole. You may want to consider adding a screen over the outlet to keep from losing baits but I have noticed I rarely loose baits.

Next I needed a way to carry this thing if I had to catch bait away from the kayak and why empty your cast net into your tank well and get it nasty. Just set it on the sandbar and load it there with bait. After you have it loaded haul it to you kayak and wash off the bottom before setting it in. Ask you can see I used a kayak handle available at Hook 1.

Why are lids so easy to lose? Even if they do float why deal with it so I attached it with a screw in the lid and some bungee to one of the nuts holding the handle on. problem solved.

Next was adding a waterproof box to house my battery and switch to turn on my pump. As you can see I just attached it with (4) 10-32 x 3/4 stainless steel machine screws, #10 SS washers and some SS lock nuts. The battery will be a 12volt gel cell battery and I will put some cutoff pool noodle on each side to keep it from shifting.

I have added a 2 wire disconnect on the pump wire so if I decide to use this as dry storage I can simply take off my hoses. As you can see the wire run is as follows. Positive to the switch. Positive from the pump to the other switch. The negative goes straight from the pump to the battery. For a pump use a Rule 360 model 24. The 500 pictured was great but draws so many amps the battery would be dead after 6 hours. I also will switch it on and off to conserve the battery but be careful as the water will drain back out the pump hose and leave your bait will very little water.

I have also added a rod holders from Hook 1 on each corner for rod storage so no Milk crate is needed. The semi-finished product. I need to get a rubber grommet to run the wires into the box and I will be attaching some pad eyes so bungee this to the Jackson Cuda tank well. I have the openning facing toward me so I can simply reach behind me an net some baits. It is quite and easy.