Livewell makin me crazy !

[04Pathy]

I have a new to me '04 22' which we love, unfortunately, the live well system is givin me fits and i'm not sure what i'm going to do yet.  I do need a new cheese grater if anyone could let me know where to locate one, mine was plastic and eventually broke off at the mounting screws.  I've gone through 3 replacement pumps in the last 8 months, I don't turn the pump on until I am getting on plane to push some water up to the pump itself but when i'm not running, the pump looses prime and then as a result, burns up the pumps.  I fabricated my own cheese grater out of pvc board with holes drilled on an angle and even screwed a small clam shell to assist with pushing water up to the pumps.    I might limp along through the summer and then overhaul the pump configuration.  I can barely turn the valves on and off with how tight everything is which is a concern of mine.  Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[fin-addict]

As far as the valves go replace them with SS or bronze if they are the Merlon ones and spray with lube or corrosion block. The cheese grater holes you made look to be straight through. The need to be slanted holes to pick up the water. Some here have made their own which turned out great. A fab shop can make one if shown a picture. You may be getting an air lock at you strainers. Should be pumping without the need to be on plane. Loosen the strainer cover baskets a bit to release the air. When you turn on the pumps. It always has worked for me. Check the valves in the tanks to make sure they are open fully. Check hose clamps to check f they are sucking air.  Best of luck fin 👍😀⚓️

[jh141]

I may be wrong, But I have never seen pumps mounted vertical. I have always seen them on a 90 degree fitting like the middle pump. Also the middle pump looks to high, like there is to much hardware involved. 

Here is a great example, Pump as low as possible to keep it below the water line if possible. Horizontal position with outlet pointing between 45 and 90 degrees to purge air.  All hardware is Groco bronze for saltwater application. 

https://www.groco.net/products/fittings

 

 

[MikeH]

You're probably not going to like this, but I had the same problem with my 2004 2200 TE. It was a great boat but it was so maddening to never know if the bait well was going to work, or stop working. I remember I had some luck with putting the boat in reverse for a few seconds and that somehow seemed to allow the pumps to prime. I also recall reaching into the bilge and slightly unscrewing the clear filter cup on the Rule pumps until it primed. But there was no reliable fix. Very frustrating when you spend time and effort catching bait only to have the pump lose prime and end up with a baitwell full of dead pilchards. I bought my boat new, custom ordered from the factory. My local dealer could not fix the problem. Nothing, and I mean nothing, worked. I even made sure the pumps were at a certain angle as suggested by jh141 above. I am not in the boat building business, but my personal opinion is that there is some design flaw causing the problem. I sold the boat to buy a ski boat when I moved into a home on a lake. But part of me was like good riddance to the bait well problems! Prior to the 2004 2200 I had a 1991 18' Hewes Redfisher, and now have a 2008 21' Maverick Master Angler. You can tell I am a loyal MBG fan, so I am definitely not bashing the brand. Good luck fixing the problem. 

[Bamaskeet]

I had a 2004 2200 for 15 years and never had a serious bait well prime issue.  On occasion I might have to put the boat in reverse to prime but that always took care of the issue.  I agree with jh141, my pumps were horizontal.

[George Seither]

If your going to limp along till you can redo the system than jh141 would be the way to go but I don't believe these are Rule Pumps, look like sure flow piranha in his set up.

I'll run the boat pumps off and highspeed pick up fills the livewell, pumps on after stopping, does your boat do this?

[04Pathy]

Thank you all for your input.  The metal cheese grater I photographed was from a different boat that was on a rack. I attached a photo of mine that failed, its plastic.  I alos attached a photo of the underside of the inlet locations.  jh141 how I would like reconfigure the pumps, very clean and the lower the better.  This is just how I inherited the boat, too much crammed into a tiny location.  I am most likely going to glass over the holes and tap in some new holes with a 3/4" dia instead of 1/2" .  I had an older 17' Mako that would free flow when running and then I would kick the pump on when stopped, it worked really good but the pump was well below the water line which helped. I'll have to try out throwing it reverse, I haven't tried that yet. I'll send some photos when I do something but probably wont be until for a few months.  I'd still like to know if anyone has any idea on where to get a new cheese grater ?

[George Seither]

 

[04Pathy]

Thanks for the link George, unless I missed something, I did not see if they ever gave a location to purchase a new cheese grater.  I may try giving the Ft. Pierce junk store a shout.  Thanks for the help !

[SCFD rtrd.]

  I had the same problems with my 23 HPS, which I bought new from the factory. The bait pumps were mounted vertical (above the water line). I reconfigured the plumbing like jh141 suggested and never had another problem. Additionally, if you add strainers to your system, they need to be mounted so that no air is trapped in the cup. The cup needs to be oriented downhill so that the water fills the cup and pushes the air up and out to the pump, then is expelled into the live-well.  Also, use "Life Caulk" for all your connections (threaded and hose to barbs). This seals all your connections, preventing water leaks and air from entering the system. 

[George Seither]

Once upon a time you could buy them off of the MBG gear site along with other livewell items, it was easy butttttttttt it ain't there no more, so it may be possible if MM has some contacts to at least get a part # for the cheese grate or have MBG tell us who manufactures them

[fin-addict]

17 hours ago, George Seither said:

Once upon a time you could buy them off of the MBG gear site along with other livewell items, it was easy butttttttttt it ain't there no more, so it may be possible if MM has some contacts to at least get a part # for the cheese grate or have MBG tell us who manufactures them

Gone are the good old day of MBG 😢

[04Pathy]

Livewell not making me crazy anymore !  It was a bit of a pain but its solid, no leaks and more importantly, no more dead baits...its not as pretty as I would like but outta sight outta mind. The factory inlet was so low I couldn't thread the valve on without removing the handle, once that was accomplished I found out real quick that the pump would not thread on as well, hence the 1' section of pipe. In addition, I had to get the pump with the longer pvc intake to nestle the pump between the two scupper drain hoses so I could finally thread the pump on.  I still had to rotate the pipe to the bow and transom to even thread the pump on the the pipe.  The final location for the pump is directly below the deck cap so it works out for an easy motor swap if needed.  I capped off the other two for the time being since those inlets do not get used.  Relentless perseverance...

[DavisIslander]

Well done on not giving up and making it WORK!