livewell troubles

I have a 95 Ranger Cherokee and today was the first time i used the livewell in a tourney. The problem is the livewell overflow exit is below the water line. I never noticed this before and when I went to take off it bogged down big time. The whole [censored] end of the boat was full of water. Is the water draining into the bottom of the boat. Its a horrible design in my mind and was wondering is there any practical solutions to this problem? Thanks, Dan

I don’t think it’s your livewell. Had the same thing happened to a friends Alumacraft. Check out your hull for cracks, loose rivets, etc.

Dan, my boater partner had what sounds like the same problem with his boat today. Every time we pumped water into the livewell we ended up with water in the boat. I suggested that he should check possibly the over flow connections to make sure there wasn’t a leak there. Someone at the landing also suggested checking the line from the livewell pump to the livewell to make sure there isn’t a leak too.

At one time todayI thought I might have to use my lifejacket. We had a ton of water in the boat!

Have you put pumped anti-freeze into the lines every year? If not I would check for leaks from frozen lines.

To me, it sounds like a leak from the pump to the livewell. I would check that first, and if nothing there, check the overflow line.

Could you see water coming over the top of the livewell??