Have a opportunity to buy a sued but in excellent condition Hobie Livewell for $189.00. Anyone have any input on these livewell systems? Are they worth the cost?

Maybe at that price. Maybe.

Aside from being overpriced I hear that they are loud and need to be primed often.

I have one and use it mostly to hold food and drinks and maybe fish if I catch any. I used to use it a lot to store crabs when I lived in California since it did hold a good number of them in there and they were easy to put in there.

Never had a problem with the pump on mine so primering was never a problem.

always thought they would be a great place to store extra tackle n gear above deck when not being used as a livewell.

a few pics for those that dont know what they r...


WHATS RETAIL ON THEM?

You can buy a lot of beer for $189.

I have one but only because it was part of the package when I bought the consignment PA14. I use it a little when crappie fishing but other than that it stays at the house. To prime all you have to do is turn on the pump and start peddling and it will fill-up. As far as being loud I have not had that problem.

its not overpriced because its the best in the market and its custom made for the hobie kayaks only. small market means expensive manufacturing cost and custom cost. for you to make something similar to the hobie, i will cost you well over what they charge.

they are indeed loud. its not the motor, but the drain sucking in air causing that gurgling noise you hear. sounds exactly like a toilet flushing.

you dont need to prime it often. once primed, it keeps running as long as you don't turn off the pump or allow the pump to suck in air.

peddling fast with the motor on doesn't always work. your best shot is to buy a hand pump to prime the pump.

I have one and I guess my question to you would be what are you trying to keep alive? The drawbacks are that as water temps get hot you can't cool the water because it is constantly circulating new water, and if you want to turn the pump off it will drain itself unless you plug the pump outlet. If your planing on keeping perch and minnows alive to fish with it will work just fine, shad on the other hand no way and as far as bass it should be ok as long as your only keeping a couple in there.

I built my own out of a dog food container. I bucket about 3 gallons of water in it before I leave the ramp and I can keep fish alive for hours, I use the heck out of mine.
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