884 Savage - Broken Livewell Drain Switch

[Eric Combs]

Hey Everyone -



I just bought a 96 Nitro 884 Savage and noticed the livewells were filling up with water when I sat still in the water. I tried flipping the livewell drain switch but it actually broke off. Now, I know, Flow-Rite makes good livewell drain switches and cables but I was wondering how difficult a job would it be on my 884 Savage? Is the valve under the gas tank? Is it actually accessible? Is it even worth doing? For the time being I just plugged the drain in the livewell and that fixed the water flowing in, but I'd prefer to do it right.



If anyone has any ideas/thoughts/suggestions, let me know.



Thanks!



Eric

 

[Max Neathamer2]

Eric,



Is this what your talking about? If you pull out the storage box behind the drivers seat, you will see the cable.



http://www.flow-rite.com/marine/product-info/valves



Max

 

[firedog978]

Eric, the livewell drain switch you mention should be attached to a 2-way valve via cable. That 2-way valve has a flip arm that the cable attaches to. This is what likely broke (or came un-attached). Your livewell pump has a threaded pvc tube that screws into the 2-way valve. If you can get to your livewell pump, you can get to what you need to fix.

 

[Eric Combs]

Hey guys -



Thanks for the replies. @ max - that is the newer version of the switch I had (I've got an older one that looks like a sun dial, no wording but a square that's filled in and a square that's empty - I would assume open and closed). Truth be told, to get to the bilge in my boat you have to remove the two trolling motor batteries, then a nylon plate on which the batteries, and now my onboard charger, sit. When I had everything out this weekend I hadn't really thought about the switch/cable/valve issue so I didn't really investigate too much. I was actually doing some cleaning and trying to figure out why water was getting in my bilge (rotted drain plug housing I found out).



At any rate - The V1 digram fits my application best - it's got one drain from the livewell and I don't believe the aerators to be attached to it.



I couldn't tell if the valve or cable was bad - when I tried to switch it from open to closed it was VERY tough to move, which is why it broke off - if it was disconnected wouldn't have flopped about, freely?



So I guess I was trying to see if anyone had done this on my boat so I could figure out how difficult it was to get to the valve. I have a (not so good) picture of my bilge and I definitely do NOT see the valve anywhere there, so that means it must be under my gas tank which will make it near impossible to get at.



If no one knows about the specific boat, I'll have to take all my batteries out again and check it. Probably a weekend job.



Thanks again for your help

 

[Max Neathamer2]

Eric,



I broke my "Acuator" this past spring. Open and closed is all that was on mine. I put a new one on. Its was a little larger and I had to drill an extra hole. Mine was a little tight last year and I believe it is the reason I broke mine off as well. When I took it off, I wanted to make sure the cable didnt have a prob either so when I had it out, I took a pair of needle nose plier's and pulled in the cable and back out to make sure it wasnt stuck and possibly break the new Acuator I was about to put on. After a couple of times, it smoothed right out, and I put the new Acuator on. Nice and smooth.



Max