SeaCraft 18' owners question:

[toadfish]

Mark, I got tired of mine always getting full of crap like leaves, fish guts, etc so I took a saws-all electric saw and cut the thing completely out. As you know, bilge access in that boat is next to none, now I can get into the bilge and really see what is going on. It makes it easy to clean out the bilge and do bilge maintenance, etc. I am in the process of re-glassing the original hatch hole and putting in about an 18" by 12" sealable deck hatch so the deck will be water-tight but still offer bilge access. I know that may sound pretty extreme, but the in-deck live-well wasn't very useful. Oh yeah, now I just use an above deck livewell....Toadfish

[Mark]

Toadfish,

It just might come to that for me as well. It has usually been a recepticle for empty drink containers and other trash and never as a bait well anyway. Bailing the water out is starting to get really old. -mark

[bmaj319]

I use the baitwell for storage...fender, second anchor and line, snorkle gear, etc. I installed a 5" round plastic screw-in access plate in the stern side of the well. With the cover off any water drains into the bilge and kicks off the automatic bilge pump (plus it gives me access to the bilge and pump).

[Snookerd]

I bought mine and it was already sealed with 5200 caulk. I've got an above deck livewell too.