Share Your Innovations

[OCRAT]

Hi All,

Been lurking a while, nice to meet you all!

I've seen so many helpful innovations, thought I'd share my bait tank plumb for anyone with a Malibu Stealth.

Happy fishin!

My goal was to plumb and wire the livewell without making the intrusive hole underside of the boat. I used the existing 'scupper' hole in the livewell. This offers the following

- Less holes drilled in the hull
- Easy removal of the whole pump (if you want to use the livewell as a dry extra storage hatch (stock setup) just re-plug the hole
- You can still just use the stock livewell setup (no plug just flowing water through the 'scupper')

First I made permanent strainer for the livewell. Used a small faucet / sink strainer from the Depot. Dremeled off the lip and Gooped it in place.



Next, get the cheapest Atwood bilge pump from Walmart (no need for anything super strong GPH wise). Get some plastic tubing and some PVC fittings (pictured from Home Depot) you wont need more than a foot worth for this setup.



Goop it together (love that Marine Goop!) so it forms a base



Slide some tubing (fits perfectly but i used shelf liner as extra support) in the base so you can slide the pump in and out of the scupper hole). I added a livewell sprayer head and fitting to be able to adjust the flow.



I wired the pump to a waterproof deck plug, into the hull, then into my battery box. There is no on / off switch (got lazy) but to turn off I simply unplug. Just drill out the drain hole (drains out footwell scuppers). It is super quiet and lasts over 16hrs (using a 6 volt SLA battery) Simple yet effective.

[alanw]

I used that method (except I got a thread adapter and screwed the pump into the threaded drain) when I first got my S-12 because I didn't want to drill a hole in the bottom of my boat. It worked well for pumping water but it left the pump as a big obstacle for the bait and they didn't circle the tank well. It will work fine if you don't crowd the tank too much. In the end, I drilled the holes and mounted the pump through the hull with no problems.

[Witty1]

Saw the motor mounts that Malibu has got on their site and thought I could improve a bit...
I utilized the same angle iron concept (used stainless steel) that comes in the motor mount kits but the difference is I am using two pieces of aluminum that sandwich the top deck. The aluminum is Goop'd in place and will be there permanently. It's mildly tapered so it won't cut/scratch things... me in particular.

I feel this distributes the load more evenly to the hull...
also... only needs 2 bolts & wing-nuts to attach the motor mount to the kayak.

[TravisLovesYaks]

Originally Posted by OCRAT

Hi All,

Been lurking a while, nice to meet you all!

I've seen so many helpful innovations, thought I'd share my bait tank plumb for anyone with a Malibu Stealth.

Happy fishin!

My goal was to plumb and wire the livewell without making the intrusive hole underside of the boat. I used the existing 'scupper' hole in the livewell. This offers the following

- Less holes drilled in the hull
- Easy removal of the whole pump (if you want to use the livewell as a dry extra storage hatch (stock setup) just re-plug the hole
- You can still just use the stock livewell setup (no plug just flowing water through the 'scupper')

First I made permanent strainer for the livewell. Used a small faucet / sink strainer from the Depot. Dremeled off the lip and Gooped it in place.



Next, get the cheapest Atwood bilge pump from Walmart (no need for anything super strong GPH wise). Get some plastic tubing and some PVC fittings (pictured from Home Depot) you wont need more than a foot worth for this setup.



Goop it together (love that Marine Goop!) so it forms a base



Slide some tubing (fits perfectly but i used shelf liner as extra support) in the base so you can slide the pump in and out of the scupper hole). I added a livewell sprayer head and fitting to be able to adjust the flow.



I wired the pump to a waterproof deck plug, into the hull, then into my battery box. There is no on / off switch (got lazy) but to turn off I simply unplug. Just drill out the drain hole (drains out footwell scuppers). It is super quiet and lasts over 16hrs (using a 6 volt SLA battery) Simple yet effective.

Wow! I wish my first post was as good as this one. LOL! Anyhow, I think this would work perfect with my Viper. Although it's a SINK, the tank has a similar design as the Malibu Stealth.