I was thinking about this today. Instead of constantly adding ice or having frozen water bottles knocking around what about adding a recirc pump which would pull water from the well, send it to a coil or mini rad in the cooler then back to the well. Pack the cooler with ice in the morning and have the pump on a timer. In my head this seems like a great idea that would work well.
Have seen kits just for this in the past, not sure if they are still available.Originally Posted by AndrewM-Fishing
It would be easy to make your own.
I just priced it out. comes in around $150 for mini rad, pump, fittings, tube and timer.
Charger did this at one time not sure if they still offer it.
See if you can find one of the ice chest/pump that they use for knee replacement surgery. It has a heavy vinyl pad that velcros around the knee and circulates ice water constantly. The cooler/pump is about a 12" cube. Comes w/about 6" of hose.
I thought that Nitro had this option a year or two ago in their boats where you basically dumped a bad of ice over a heat exchanger that was under one of the rear storage boxes.
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Sounds like a good idea. Sure would beat putting ice in all day.
Plenty of heat pumps out there that will chill coolant. I would not want to have to power them using a battery system though.
....most cooling systems using refrigerant don't like constant vibration, let alone the pounding a bass boat takes- lots of things to go wrong.
I believe they had one called a cool-well system. Small heat exchanger located in storage compartment. Some tubing, pump, add ice to compartment and good to go. I believe pump was thermostacially controlled.
"Koolwell"
They no longer sell them
Saw a couple on ebay a year or so ago
"The handicapped angler"
I would think you would need some kind of thermostat so the water wouldn't get too cold.
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In Canada is that even necessary? I live in Oklahoma and the water temp in the summer is usually around 90 and never lose any fish with the recirc on auto all day and VT2 vents. Interesting idea nonetheless.
I don’t think they make them anymore. Edwin Evers also used to run a similar system, not sure if it was the same brand or not.
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Same here, live in Texas, I never use ice and have not lost fish because of the water being too hot. Now rarely do I fish in July / August.
V-T2 Live well vents is all you need.
Don't give your ideas away for free. I have a few I'll just hold onto forever and then complain when they eventually show up. But yeah there is a better way.
Been using these for around 6 years now. Run wells on timer and can't tell you last time I lost a fish and water temp is in the 90's here in the summer.
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We get into the mid 80's up here during the summer but our lakes are predominantly smallmouth. Big difference in water temp @ 25-35ft
The warmer livewell water is, the less dissolved oxygen it carries. You can either cool the temp or add pure oxygen. I would go with adding oxygen. Get you a small oxygen bottle/regulator/diffuser kit. It will be money better spent.
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