Livewell plumbing problems & recirc questions - 1998 273

[adrenalnjunky]

Boat is my '98 273. Discovered a series of issues with the livewell system today. I've had a leaky flow-rite basic open/close valve that's been letting the livewell fill off-plane when in the "closed" position.

I started troubleshooting it today by filling my livewell with a hose, and a steady trickle was coming out of the outflow hull fitting. If I pressed on the valve by hand, It would almost stop. I figure the valve might be rebuildable, but for $35 I'd rather just replace with new.

While I was doing this, I went to check the fitting on my fill/aerator pump line and the pump wiggled like a 5 year old's loose tooth. It was mounted flush to the transom thru-hull fitting, so I started looking for a way to tighten it up. Couldn't find any.
There was no type of nut or other fastening method, while I was looking at it, it simply snapped off - leaving a portion of the threaded shaft in the hull, and the mesh strainer on the other side.

What's worse, I tried unscrewing the mesh strainer, and it snapped off too.

It appears the prev. owner maybe tried bodging a failed intake pump at some point. Instead of fastening the pump in place, he glued or siliconed the threaded end into the hull, and screwed & glued the mesh strainer on to the outside to hold it all in place. First step tomorrow is to get the thru hull hole cleaned out and ready for a new aerator pump assembly.

My boat has a recirc switch on the dash - but nothing happens when I flip it. It has wiring connected to the output of the switch. I can't remember what color at the moment.

But I don't have anything back there to handle recirc function. The main drain went to the flow-rite, and it had a straight shot to the transom. The fill/aerator pump line goes up to the only nozzle in the livewell. The overflow is a straight shot that drains directly thru the transom. Is the switch just wishful thinking, or is it possible there was a recirc system and it was gutted somewhere along the line? If so would it have maybe been connected via a tee in the empty line ahead of the flow-rite valve and back up to a tee the fill nozzle? Or should a recirc system really have its own pump intake and sprayer as more of a closed system?

[tdt91]

PM me your cell number and I'll text you a photo of mine. I suspect they are the same. I bet the pump that broke war a rule, They sucked and when my boat was new that pump broke, I replaced it and the same thing happened. Not a good pump to have mounted horizontal threw the hull.
Attwood Tsunami is what you want there.

[adrenalnjunky]

PM me your cell number and I'll text you a photo of mine. I suspect they are the same. I bet the pump that broke war a rule, They sucked and when my boat was new that pump broke, I replaced it and the same thing happened. Not a good pump to have mounted horizontal threw the hull.
Attwood Tsunami is what you want there.

The one that broke was a marine raider brand from academy, looks like. I picked up an attwood tsunami right before I got the notification about your response.

I had already gotten the thru hull opening cleaned up, but the attwood wasn't going thru the hull. Turns out the prev owner had silicones a huge steel washer between the hull and the pump, and it was shifted in a way that kept the pump's intake from passing through the hull well.

Tapped that out with a punch and cleaned everything up on the bilge side of the transom. Here's where I now ran into an issue:

The tsunami pump doesn't clear the molded ridge in my bilge, it is too big around and the flange won't sit square on my transom.

I've decided to build a thru hull fitting using most of the tsunami's threaded intake, and then remote mount the pump a bit further up in the bilge. Couldn't find the remote mount bracket for the tsunami locally, so waiting on Amazon to deliver it and a new flow-rite valve. IMG_20190630_155831.jpgIMG_20190630_155831.jpg

[tdt91]

I did the same thing years ago with that pump but got real tired of the vapor lock I always got. If you get the vapor lock put the boat in reverse to push the water through, sometimes you will have to give some good RPMs in reverse to make it work. I got tired of that so I found the Tsunami pump. I believe mine is the 750 GPH so probably smaller. If you get the 500 GPH it should fit. That pump should be your secondary pump by the way and the main pump should be connected to the valve. Good luck.

[adrenalnjunky]

I did the same thing years ago with that pump but got real tired of the vapor lock I always got. If you get the vapor lock put the boat in reverse to push the water through, sometimes you will have to give some good RPMs in reverse to make it work. I got tired of that so I found the Tsunami pump. I believe mine is the 750 GPH so probably smaller. If you get the 500 GPH it should fit. That pump should be your secondary pump by the way and the main pump should be connected to the valve. Good luck.

Thanks for the tip. My boat only had the one pump - the flow-rite valve isn't one that you can screw into a pump, and I replaced the leaky one with the same model.

I really wish that thru-hull mounted transducer puck for the old school lowrance wasn't back there, but there's no way to remove it, so I'm stuck with it.

Now I have to attempt to squeeze a new glue-down transducer for my garmin in somewhere aft of the bilge pump, underneath all of the plumbing

IMG_20190701_193151[1].jpg

[tdt91]

Put a 2x4 chuck on end up against that transducer and smack the other end of the 2x4 with a hammer. It will come free.
I think yours could be set up like mine or was originally. PM me your number and I'll text you a few photo's. What does the lever for the valve look like. How about your console switches.

[adrenalnjunky]

Sent you PM.

But that old xducer can't come out- they were factory items, they go through the hull. I'd have a 2.5" hole in the hull without it there.

this is the valve that's going back in - it's just an open/close.