HELP NEEDED with Nitro Savage Livewell Operation

[Juan Mattos]

I acquired a 1998 Nitro Savage recently but the livewell operation is a bit confusing compared to the newer boats.



I have two switch locations, one is in the form of flip switches on the panel right next to the Steering wheel (One says Auto Recirc on top, Off in the center and Manual at bottom, the other one says Aux Fill low and Off on top), the second location is in the form of turning levers right underneath the throttle lever and has two handles (One says Empty - Off - Auto and the other says Pumpout - Off - Recirculate).



The livewell is divided, it has a pole that leads to the drain under the hull (That keeps falling off), two pipes coming from the top (I guess this is where the water circulates) and also has two removable 1" plugs at the top in both sides that drain to the side of the hull.



The first time I took the boat out, I did what I used to do with my last boat, I used the manual switch to fill it, turned it off when I reached the desired level and turned the Recirculating switch, BUT for some reason the water overflowed from the top.



I took the boat to a Boat shop and the pumps are all working, they told me to get rid of the drain pole and replaced it with a plug, they also told me to remove the two plugs on the side of the livewell so that the water will never go past that level and to keep the switch on recirculating at all times (Once it was filled) :unsure:



My questions are:



Wont I be loosing a lot of the water through the open plugs on the side while I go on plane from one spot to the other?



How do I recycle the water? Meaning, If I wanted to pump out some of the water inside the livewell to get new water in.



And most importantly, what is the function of the pole drain? if the water that gets in it goes straight out under the boat.



Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Tornado]

I can help on part of your situation. I have a 96 896 Savage. The recirc has a bildge pump that takes the water and passes it back. If you will pull out your back storage bins youll be able to see the pump and it will make more sense. My boat does not have the pump out feature so I can not address that.



Hope this helps.

 

[Juan Mattos]

Thank you Tornado...



I believe the Bilge pumps in my boat were upgraded, they are now both seating right behind the gas tank, they are working properly.



My confusion comes about how to manage the switches and levers and if in fact would be correct to eliminate the drain pole (Now replaced with a plug).



The way I see it, if I were to fill the wells and switch to recirculating mode it should be OK no?

I'm just not sure what to do with the lever type handles.




http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm82/juanrmattos/photo-1.jpg

 

[Tornado]

There is a separate pump that is mounted on the tub of the live wells, it just happens to be a bildge pump. It's sole purpost is to recirculate water in the live wells. I found this when I removed the back storage bins. The water that is going into your live wells when you have the switch on recirculate is from the live wells, not from the outside as it is when you fill the live wells.

 

[Betty Smith]

OK.....So.....my husband wants to know, what does the pump out switch control? Is it the bilge or the livewell? Any help would be greatly appreciated~!~:unsure:

 

[Betty Smith]

Never mind~~~ Johnny found it online. Thanks