Transom Bait Boxes

[akbridge]

I got a set of bait boxes from Tommy at Hammerhead Boats in Tampa a week ago to mount on the back of my 170.  They need a little cleaning and work.  I am looking for info on mounting these.  I was going to thru bolt them or auger bolt them to my transom with lots of 5200.  I was thinking of mounting them about a half inch above the bottom of my boat to keep the out of the water when running.  I was hoping to do this to keep my speed and reduce drag.
I was going to add some piping to them to supply water when running rather than using all of the drilled holes on the bottom and side.  I don't use white bait for fishing much, mostly just use them to hold caught fish, scallops and maybe some bait.  Any info on these would help me.  Thanks

[akbridge]

Well I finally got my lazy butt around to painting and mounting these things.  I think they turn out great!  :bounce: The only thing that puzzled me was that they could have caused a rocker to the hull.  That's because of how they are at a different angle than the chine (I think that's the right word or the under side of the boat).  A keen eye can see it in the pictures.  To solve the issue I mounted the boxes a 1/4" above the edge of where the chine and transom meet.  This will allow water to pass under and not hit the bait boxes.  The best news of all of this.  My old transom was dry and solid as I drilled and anchored the boxes to it.  I just never really new before.  Now I do and it makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable.

[MarshMarlowe196]

I can see now that those boxes didn't come off an Aqua 170... or did they?  If they're not the same angle as your deadrise/hull, I don't see any other way to mount them than just above the bottom of your transom/just above the hull.  How did you end up mounting them?  Have you tried them out yet?

[fitz73222]

I finally have someone to work out a theory with! I have been wondering how to make my transom boxes elective to fill or keep dry. I have the factory boxes on my 22-2. They work very well; almost too well! At speed, those boxes take your bait on a whitewater raft ride down the snake river. Now here is my idea. Plug the holes in the wells. Purchase 2 inboard engine water intakes (one for each box). They are egg shaped pucks made from brass with milled slots on the front of the dome and are mounted through the hull to help force feed water up through the sea strainers and into the engines. Mount these on the bottom of the box and through to the inside. Inside the box, have a PVC gate valve that you can open or close the flow generated by the forward motion of the boat. Now make a riser to the desired height and mount some kind of starburst diffuser for the water to spray through and fill and aerate. Provide a discharge outet 2X the intake diameter and fabricate a screen inside the discharge outlet to keep the bait in the box. One more item. On the lower corner of each box install a ball scupper that will let the water out when the gate valve is closed and not let the water in when not in use. I think this will work and the amount of water that will come through that intake and up the riser will be amazing! Plus you can regulate it with the gate valve. What do you think about that!!

[MarshMarlowe196]

That sounds like it would work well to me- Just a question though:  Why would you want the boxes to be dry?  Storage?  Seems like a ball scupper on the bottom of the box would let out a lot of water while the boat is on plane which might force you to pump in more water to keep the water level up, so you might be back to whitewater rapids, and you'd have to screen that hole as well so smaller baitfish/shrump wouldn't escape.  

A clamshell pickup is probably overkill for the amount of water necessary to be pumped into those boxes.  I have just a small shaved lip of PVC pipe that protrudes about 1/4" from the bottom of the box and it's still necessary to have the gate valve to regulate the amount of water flowing into the boxes.

I didn't use a screen on the pipe coming into the box- just capped the pipe off and made it higher than the waterline (at rest) and drilled a few 1/4" holes in the portion of the pipe above the waterline so the water would stream out and it wouldn't be able to drain out through the tube.

Still- sounds like it would work.  The only problem I'm having with my boxes now is that it seems that there isn't enough flow into the boxes while I'm sitting still.  I have two 3/4" screened overflow holes at the waterline on the boxes, but if the boat lists too high to one side and clears the overflow holes, the water stops flowing in.  I think that's easily remedied by drilling a few small angled holes in the bottom of the boxes (like they were originally)

[fitz73222]

Good points,
I think someone added lots of extra holes to my boxes and they tended to fill up unevenly. I sometimes need to trim out the list with the engine (Twins) closest to that box. And I figured if I`m not using them why drag all that water around. I think those are Mako boxes on his boat. Whats weird is the lids are facing the wrong way to make dipping bait a bit of a challenge. I wonder if the tops can be reversed?

[akbridge]

fitz73222:  Sounds like a good plan to me.  I wasn't going to use a clamshell pick though.  I have a habit of running up on sand bars at night, and well I would rather have PVC break off.   So I was going to use a threaded PVC piece to pick up the water (threaded so I can adjust the height in the water column while running).  I do want to have a larger overflow out the rear and/or sides of the boxes as well as holes in the bottom.  The majority of water would flow out of the larger overflow.  At rest it would circulate from the bottom holes to the top overflow.  I have no real desire to keep the boxes dry, but a ball valve would be needed to adjust water inflow.  The boxes were made by a company in Bradenton, FL called Aquacraft.  I had never heard of them before....   But the boxes do seem stouter than original AS boxes.  I tried to find a good set of AS boxes they were cracked and falling apart.  I have seen similar boxes on Makos (original Mako parts) and a Key West 1720 (these were aftermarket and probably the same manufacturer as mine).  As for the lid being backwards, time will tell.  When its up, it is only four inches above the transom.  So I don't think it will be a hindrance to have the lids facing in that direction.  So it will just be interesting opening them up.  But once the lids are up, it should be easy money.  What are the top dimensions of ya'll baitboxes?  Mine are about 16" deep away from the transom x 28" wide across the transom.  

Badonquasport196:  The boxes were not a AS part, see above.  The deadrise is the same, 12 degrees.  But its like the transom angle is a little off.  It could cause a rocker to hull if I mount them flush the bottom of the transom.  So I mounted them a little higher.  I used 3/8" lag bolts and lots of 5200 to mount them.  They have very little flex.  I have hung off the back and would feel comfortable having my 210 lbs father stand on them.  I might eventually through bolt the boxes to the transom.  I have not had a chance to run them yet.  I will run them on tomorrow on my way to the AS meet up  8) .

[akbridge]

They work!!!   My father and I went out yesterday and caught a few trout.  So rather than tossing them in the cooler like normal we just put them in the bait well.  It worked out well.  I do need to make an up spout for them to fill the boxes while running.  But they were able to keep a grunt alive all day as they were.  They do not slow down the boat at all.  When above 30 MPH they don't even touch the water.  Exactly what I wanted.  As an added benefit they break up the wave that follows the boat when coming off a plane.  So water up and over the transom is not a worry anymore.  I will keep ya'll posted on what I do for the fill spout.

[Marcq]

. Plug the holes in the wells. Purchase 2 inboard engine water intakes (one for each box). They are egg shaped pucks made from brass with milled slots on the front of the dome and are mounted through the hull to help force feed water up through the sea strainers and into the engines. Mount these on the bottom of the box and through to the inside. Inside the box, have a PVC gate valve that you can open or close the flow generated by the forward motion of the boat. Now make a riser to the desired height and mount some kind of starburst diffuser for the water to spray through and fill and aerate. Provide a discharge outet 2X the intake diameter and fabricate a screen inside the discharge outlet to keep the bait in the box. One more item. On the lower corner of each box install a ball scupper that will let the water out when the gate valve is closed and not let the water in when not in use. I think this will work and the amount of water that will come through that intake and up the riser will be amazing! Plus you can regulate it with the gate valve. What do you think about that!!

Are you talking about those ? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CUSTOM-1 ... 2c515b451b

I like it, good idea

Marc..

[fitz73222]

Thats them, I think they would work great without a lot of drag and if you hit bottom (Like get her high and dry!) nothing is going to break...

[akbridge]

I got the livewells plumbed up today.  I used one of the brass thru hull fittings like described above per side.  I used a half inch NPT units.  It works great  Kind of dumb luck really.  I slid a piece of 3/4" pipe over the threads    with four 3/16" holes.  The flow was perfect.  I thought I was going to need a valve to throttle the flow, but it all seems to perfect to mess with      It creates a nice circular movement in the livewell.  The water in the well is about 10" on average.  Can't wait to try them out now.  I will post pics later.

[akbridge]

Pics of final result.  They work great!  Well, I haven't used them yet, but they look like they should keep the fish happy.