another hobie livewell improvment
 

After using the Hobie Livewell for the first time, I noticed at the end of the session kelp and sea grass had gotten sucked into the intake tube and clogged the pump, and slowing the motor down for lack of a screen to keep unwanted crap out. So I grabbed a piece insect screen from Home Depot, cut out a section (in the shape of a stop sign) bigger than the diameter of the plastic primer piece and just shoved it into the tube creating a nice screen for the Livewell. The screen is secure, made of synthetic fiber and does not impede the flow of water into the bait tank. The intake tube naturally wedges the screen material over the plastic primer piece and creates an airtight seal with the tubing.

Attachment 400

:cheers1: Nice fix.

Kind funny that hobie did not have any screen in the intake.

OMG
Thats an awesome idea.
I have't had any issue yet with clogging.

But its great to see a simple and cheap idea

THANKS !!!

:you_rock:

Any word if hobie is going to have a Version 2 of the livewell soon?:rolleyes:

You should post that info up on

http://www.hobiecat.com/community/index.php

I think that it needs correcting at the beginning. I have tried this with using the same material, but using a strip about 3/4" wide to extend beyond the tube and taper. Aftercovering the intake, I glue with super glue. I just did this. I will try out this week end. if it works, I will show how to do it.

I am using a similar screen on my intake for a different system. I am having some problems with small debris getting caught in the screen, cutting off the water flow. You might want to figure a way to keep the screen on the outside for quick cleaning.

great idea
 

I like your idea in this post. very interesting.

Synthetic Grass

Artificial Turf

Guys have been using this solution for years in various forms. There are several versions posted in the Innovations thread. I tried the screen method a while back but abandoned it because the screen would sometimes get plugged up with slime or small pieces of kelp.

I discovered another way to solve the problem of the intake getting plugged while searching for a way to keep water from draining out of the tank when the motor gets accidentally turned off. (Search for post #37 in the innovations thread).

Basically, a 90 degree ELL with an extender tube is attached to the water output of the pump. This solves the drain-back problem. The added benefit is that you can blow air through this tube, (using a sprinkler riser inserted into the tube), to clear out any gunk that may be clogging the intake. With this setup you can also manually prime the pump be sucking in a little water.

It works great.

Bob

SPAM SPAM SPAM

i have done something similar to mine. but instead of super glueing it to the intake, i just used a larger piece of screen and by using my thumb start to form a dome indentation into the screen. once the dome starts to take the shape of a cone, i used a sharpie pen and pushed it into the intake.
this way it is not permanently stuck there and can be changed out in the future. the friction from the screen keeps it from moving. i also painted the screen with appliance spray paint to help with the corrosion problem before inserting it into the intake.