What are these power outlets & livewell cables?

[thrashercharged]

I have a 1987 bass boat I'm fixing up - wondering what these are? They appear to be 12v power outlets but I've never seen anything that uses plugs like these? Were these common back in the 80's and obsolete now? I have these 2 prong outlets that look like the usual 120v AC plugs but I know they must be 12v. Which side is + and which is -? Also these little round things on my gunwales (I have 4 of them spread all around), I thought they were little lights but that white plastic thing is actually a plug that pulls out. The wiring is definitely a red and black wire (GND) so I think these must be 12v outlets of some sort? What plugged into these?
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Also inside my live well, I see these cables - what do they do?
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Thanks for any help!

[bcreek]

The round plugs on the top cap are for black lights for night fishing. Very popular in Ky. and Tenn. several years ago.

[wareagle24]

As bcreek stated the plugs are jacks for black lights. I've had them on a couple if boats years ago. The controls are for filling and draining your livewells.

[doyce]

Agree with the above. I have the black plugs on my boat now for black lights. The other allows you to open and close the live well so they can be filled with water.

[thrashercharged]

Black lights for night fishing: found 'em on the internet, thanks! http://www.tablerockblacklights.com/nitebite1.html and https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/tabl...-accessory-kit

[Bass Cat Boats]

Those are home made cables it looks like for the livewell drains.

[thrashercharged]

Livewell drains - oh I see. The livewells will auto-drain once full so they don't overfill, but to totally drain them empty I need to pull those cables to open the valves. Where are these drain valves located that these cables go to? They seem to be stuck so I need to lubricate them somehow. Any tips? Thanks!

[Bass Cat Boats]

it’s hard to say as some older boats used auto heater core valves and they would rust, as antifreeze kept them lubricated years ago in cars.

[BulletTJ]

The actual valves will either be located on the back side of the livewell or close to the transom in the bilge area.

[thrashercharged]

Thanks for all the help from everyone. I found the valves attached to the pumps and luckily they're moving freely and not frozen. So now I have more questions - how's the live well keep from overflowing? Is there a sensor that automatically turns the pump off? Or does it keep pumping and just overflows into the hull?

Also, what's an aerator? This boat has a knob (potentiometer) that people are saying controls the aerator. Wouldn't you just drain the well and pump in fresh water whenever you needed? Or is there an air pump or something that keeps the live wells aerated?

[Lil Mo]

An aerator will pump lake water into the live well to keep your fish alive and healthy. Each tank has an overflow near the top that is plumbed to an outlet at back of the boat near the bottom of the transom. It will not overflow into the hull. With this setup, fresh lake water is constantly circulated through the live well.