This is what I came up with to use as a livewell on my 15' Boston Whaler.
I bought a round drink cooler at Wal Mart, and removed the handle on one
side. In its place, I drilled a hole with a hole saw and installed an
ordinary plastic bulkhead fitting.
On the other side and somewhat lower, I drilled a much larger hole and put a
plastic bulkhead fitting which has a flat flange, designed to sit low to the
deck in the transom on boats with self-bailing cockpits.
I will mount a small plastic coarse screen on that flange, to prevent smaller baitfish
and shrimp from escaping overboard.
On the outside, I put a short length of hose for the overboard drain.
Here's an overhead view of the whole assembly.
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Build Your Own Livewell for Small Boat Use
A live bait well on a small boat is never easy, especially if the boat can't
be outfitted with a built-in livewell of any size.
I used to use a 5 gallon bucket with a perforated plastic bait lid, but it had to be lifted in and out of the water at each fishing stop, and recirculation was not good with holes only in the lid. I had to drain about half the water out before running at speed in any waves, or water sloshed out into the boat.
I Needed A Better Baitwell
I decided I needed a removable livewell that could either intake water from over the side or recirculate its own water with a small bilge pump. Here is what I came up with.
When it is sitting in the back of my 15 Whaler, I can hang the hose with the
bilge pump overboard and plug it in to a switched cigarette lighter type 12
volt outlet on the console of the boat. The hose is long enough to hang down
a couple of feet, where water is cooler and more oxygen-rich, which will
mean lively bait on a hot day.
I run the drain hose into the self-bailing motor well. When running between fishing spots, the lid prevents any water from splashing into the boat, and I just put the hose and bilge
pump on deck. I can also put the pump inside the cooler livewell and make it
recirculate.
I also have a 12 volt outlet connected to a couple of
alligator clips, so I can clip on to any 12 volt battery and plug in the
live bait well pump. I can bring it along on other boats that don't have a
live well, as long as there is a battery, or I can bring a battery, too.
Result? A Removable, Small-Space Livewell for a Little Time and Money
This livewell works great, and was cheap and easy to build. My expenditures included some
through hull marine bulkhead fittings meant for above waterline use, some
hoses, a small bilge pump, and a cooler. I already had some wire and I
bought a 12 volt cigarette lighter type plug fitting to put on the end. I
used crimp connectors sealed with plastic liquid electrical tape to connect
the bilge pump wires.
Instead of stainless steel hose clamps, I used my new
ClampTite clamp-making tool to make my own stainless
steel wire clamps on the hoses.
The whole thing cost about $60-70 in parts. You can get everything except the clamp-making tool at Boaters World
 .
And here is my custom-built livewell tucked into a tiny space in the stern of my boat.
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