Hey everyone have a question about the placement of a bait tank. I currently have a 48 gallon tank mid deck. I am looking at getting rid of the mid deck and glassing in a 65 gallon dual tank into the transom. The boat is a 1990 MV with a stainless marine bracket and f300 it was formally a I/O.my 3 batteries are also in the stern on the vessel see pictures. My plan is to get rid of the dog house and build a 32X32 flush mount hatch. I will then glass the tank into the transom right behind the hatch. Is 65 gallons to much weight for the stern? Should I move my batteries to inside the pilot house? Trying to avoid this but it ca
Bait tank placement questions.
- Thread starter Rozi2520
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Look at all that space. Wow. Get rid of the I/o doghouse and flatten it out with a good flush hatch.
I suggest you add buckets of water to simulate the weight for the stern bait tank. That way you can test scupper height accurately. I suspect it’s too much especially with that f300 way back there.
Middle bait tanks like you have work better than transom placement since people fish the back and others can get bait in the middle. Spreads everything out. I’ve had both and for a west coast fishing boat I prefer center tanks. Also stern tanks block access to all the plumbing you have on the transom. Plus the drip on stuff. Tough access. Maybe pop out the transom with a hatch for a fish box but not a live well. See a Grady white 228. See pic from a 27 walk around.
I suggest you add buckets of water to simulate the weight for the stern bait tank. That way you can test scupper height accurately. I suspect it’s too much especially with that f300 way back there.
Middle bait tanks like you have work better than transom placement since people fish the back and others can get bait in the middle. Spreads everything out. I’ve had both and for a west coast fishing boat I prefer center tanks. Also stern tanks block access to all the plumbing you have on the transom. Plus the drip on stuff. Tough access. Maybe pop out the transom with a hatch for a fish box but not a live well. See a Grady white 228. See pic from a 27 walk around.
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I agree it is a lot of weight 440 pounds of water. But is it any more than running twin 250’s? I will weight test this week that is a great idea. As far as fishing goes a transom style better fits the way I fish even in SoCal. It opens the whole deck as far as lobster hooping goes and heading north for crab. Also more comfortable with the family a 5 year old and 2 year old. After 3 days it gets a little tight on deck. I rarely fish more than 3 people so plenty of room on the boat. At that the bait tank will only actually stick out of the transom 8”. I just put in 22x22 flush mount hatches in the port and starboard sides of the deck for fish holds. Will post pictures later.
Understood. I would weight test it. I did the same weight test on a 28 Grady before hanging 1200 lbs of Honda 250’s. The beam is what handle the weight. I used coolers with water ,buckets with water a few people and anchor chain. You really don’t want wet feet or scuppers under water. It ruins the boat. I’m in SoCal also.
! I have a 100 gallon rubber maid container I use to flush my motor in. I will fill up 65 gallons of water with the wash down pump. See how it looks and feels! Thanks for the help, that helps a lot.- Joined
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warthog5
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65 gal X 8.3 [what a gal of saltwater weighs] = 539.5lbs
I have a 2005 Parker 2520 MV, bought it when the boat was a year old with 39 hours on the engine. I put 1800+ hours on the original engine and now have over 600 on the second engine that was hung in the Spring of 2019. If I count drift fishing time, I have probably spent 10,000 hours on the boat, 9,000+ in the open ocean. I have run the boat April-November in the Northeast. For a lot of years I ran offshore dive trips and hauled at times as many as 8 sets of steel doubles. If I was to state what is the most critical issue in terms of how the boat rides and what impacts fuel economy the most is additional weight loaded towards the stern.
I can’t prove this scientifically but I’d estimate that 100 pounds of weight loaded in the stern is more noticeable then 500 pounds loaded in the forward end of the cockpit. If you’re just making short runs in protected waters, that aft bait tank might not be that big of a deal, but if you’re plan on running with that tank even 1/2 full in the open ocean for any kind of distance, all that weight aft will have a dramatic impact on the ride and it will cost you plenty of extra $$ in fuel......
I can’t prove this scientifically but I’d estimate that 100 pounds of weight loaded in the stern is more noticeable then 500 pounds loaded in the forward end of the cockpit. If you’re just making short runs in protected waters, that aft bait tank might not be that big of a deal, but if you’re plan on running with that tank even 1/2 full in the open ocean for any kind of distance, all that weight aft will have a dramatic impact on the ride and it will cost you plenty of extra $$ in fuel......
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This is an extremely useful post. Thank you.
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I think your current tank is in an optimal position for weight distribution. I have a 65gal Blue Water mounted cross-wise but in relatively the same postion on '03 2520 DV. All the west coast Parkers have their tanks mounted in pretty much the same configuration because live bait is the game out here. I think at the transom would be too much weight at the stern and it sounds like a hell of a lot of work to do it. Not sure where you are located and how much live bait means to you.
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