Bait Tank Construction

[zeelaagee]

I've been giving some consideration to constructing my own bait tank for my WS Tarpon 140 because I have yet to find a system on the market that maximized the shape and space of the tank well.

I plan on using a soft foam blank of either styrofoam or floral foam and laying the a fibergalss shell over that to create the general shape. Flip it over and create the top portion with an open area for a lid so that it's one piece of material (excluding lid portion) as a final product.

I'm a little stuck as to how to create the top portion of the tank and still have a lid to keep the buggers in.

Has anyone else tackled this project with successes or failures to learn from?

Should I be concerned with placing the in/out water ports in any particular place?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

A

[PescadorPete]

Some ideas:
Maybe look at a cooler first since it would be a lot less work than laying up one from scratch. I use an Igloo Marine Cooler with the lid removed. I made a lid out of clear plastic cutting board and it sits on the internal ridge where the ice bucket would sit. I use the hinges from the original lid for this plastic lid. Its much easier to open and close than the original cooler lid. Another handy material is white cutting boards ("marine lumber"). I buy them in cheap 3 packs and cut them up for all sorts of uses.

I prefer my inlet low so the nozzle is below the tank water (quieter). The outlet is then higher. Be aware, if you do it this way and then shut the pump off, the water will drain out. The battery and PWM sits in the Tupperware container.

Pete

[dgax65]

There is a guy in NSW, Australia who has done some nice fiberglass work on his kayak. He made a fiberglass insert for the tank well on his Scupper Pro that is similar to what you are looking for.
http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6415
http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6286
You could easily put a hatch cover on the bait tank of this type of set-up.

He also did a fishing ski-style fiberglass center hatch for the Scupper Pro that is a thing of beauty.
http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7658

[gary sullivan]

For my bait tank pictured below I made sure my inlet was above the larger outlet. I have a manual electrical shutoff that gets used periodically during an outing and I don't want the water level to drop below 3/4 full when shut off. I got the special inlet fitting at OEX in Point Loma. It will direct the water down and to the side of the container giving a good flow direction for the bait.

[zeelaagee]

Thanks for the links Douglas.

I've seen the Bucket Tank before and read some tutorials on those.

Thanks for the input.

Andy

[zeelaagee]

i'm glad i never got to the point where i thought to myself that i should have taken the advice of those with more experience that i.

i finally got my kayak to the level of respectable fishing yak this weekend with the help of brian at OEX and a buddy. added a ff and bait tank...

that bait tank idea was really stupid- just based on price. $90 for fibergalss and resin ? i'll take a $10 bucket, thanks. i never even built the form.

thanks for the suggestions.