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?