265 Express Fish Box Issues

[Shockwave61]

I own a 2002 265 Express and love the boat! One issue that has bothered me from the day I bought the boat is the large fish well behind the helm chair. Whenever I try cleaning the well after a day of fishing, I always have a hard time. The drain hole drains very slowly and I can never drain it completely (Making it hard to completely clean out the fish scales, blood etc), leaving the fish well unusable to me. The fish well sits so low on the boat that there seems to be not enough of a pitch to drain the well. I have verified that the drain tube is not plugged up. Does anyone else have this problem and are there any solutions? The drain hole on the side of the boat is at the waterline.

thanks for your help!

 

[ocnslr]

Fish box on our Islander is in the same place. Same year.

The elbow fitting from the box is small in diameter. I have found that fish scales can easily slow, or stop, the gravity drainage from the box.

Can usually clear it by shooting water directly into the drain from the shore hose when cleaning the boat.

GW apparently increased the diameter of the drain fitting and hoses sometime after 2002.

Brian

 

[mronzo]

With soapy water it takes a while to get it completeley rinsed out. I start my clean up routine by washing out the fish box first then I wash the helm deck, rinse it all, then wash the cock pit. Before I rinse the cockpit
I put the hose to the engine washdowns, turn the fuel and battery switches off. This way I'm ready to step off the boat and go clean fish
hopefully! The slow draining helps save the ice in the insulated fishbox.
I'll take slower draining overboard as oppossed to some brands like
(name the brand uhhh..Contender) that macerate and drain into the
BILGE for your bilge pumps to pump out. I never got why some brands do that?

 

[gradyfish22]

It does drain slowly if you have soap in it, air in the line from the bubbles for some reason slows it. Have you tried running the hose at the drain to blow the line out, if it drains slow I try this and it blows it out and drains fine after, very rarely have an issue. It might be possible you have too much drain hose and there is a dip in it where it goes too low and will not allow it to drain correctly, but mine drains overall very well, I also have a 2002 with F225's. I do feel it is a pain to clean well after its a mess, after tuna trips we have to climb in to reach it all, luckily i have a short friend...he gets that job :lol:

 

[Shockwave61]

When I first bought the boat, I brought up the poor draining issue with the Grady Dealership. He confirmed there was a droop in the hose and had it shortened, but this did not resolve the issue. I have to literally climb in sometimes to clean the well out and use lots of simple green. If I don't do a good job, it really starts to stink. When I'm cod and haddock fishing I use the livewell instead. A lot easier to clean and keep clean.

 

[gradyfish22]

For inshore fishing we use a 100qt marine cooler, it stores nicely against the splash well and allows movement around the engines, and if you want it out of the way it stores perfectly between the captains chair and the starboard helm bench seat to open up cockpit space. We typically only use the big fish well for offshore tuna trips where we fill it to the top with ice and also top off a 100qt cooler full of ice. the livewell gets ice and food as well as the fridge...just make sure to close the sea cock or you will have soggy food...
I'm wondering if your boat is very light in the aft tank and full in the main, maybe the boat is sitting forward, making it difficult to drain aft and out, not really sure. Are your scuppers in the water, on mine they are above, even with full fuel offshore gear, lots of ice and 4 guys...maybe 1/4 might be in the water with that load but we are running by then and it does not matter, maybe your thru hulls are lower and covered at the dock, this would still allow water out but at a slower rate. If 1/2 or more of the thru hull is covered, this will slow the draining a bit, it will still flow out but slower due to the pressure of the water outside the boat, the only fix for that is to load the boat differently or move the thru hull.

 

[Shockwave61]

thanks Gradyfish22

I have twin F225 four strokes and the scuppers at the stern is about 1/3 to 1/2 below the waterline on my 2002 model year Express. Across the marina, a friend has a 2004 express and his scuppers are higher. (I read on other posts that the hull was redesigned or the scuppers raised on later year models). The outlet hole on the starboard side of the boat for the fish well is definitely about 1/3 underwater slowing the flow rate. The more I think about it, I like your idea of the 100qt cooler. It would make cleanup a lot easier. What particular brand do you have that fits between the helm chair and starboard seat?
thanks for the help

 

[fishingFINattic]

One tip that I do is once I clean the fish box - rinse as good as possible and I actually leave the box open for a day or two -
This allows everything to dry out -
Hit it with a quick cleaning next time at the boat - stays nice and clean and my dock neighbors appreciate this!
Tim

 

[Shockwave61]

Thanks for the great tips!

 

[gradyfish22]

The igloo quick and cool fits, Colmen 100 marine fits also. Currently I have the Igloo, it holds ice fairly well and fits without a problem, but the rippled top makes it harder to cut bait or fillet on, if you have a fillet table it won't matter. We use a rug from carpet stores, we get them free when they discontinue them and put that ontop, the bottom of the rug has enough rigidity to avoid noticing the ripples and keeps fish from sliding, only way i'll fillet a fish anymore is on a rug. It washes off well if you rinse with water and soap and lasts maybe 5 trips or so, throw it out and use another one. Become friends with your local rug supplier. Ones with rubber bottoms are even better for filleting. Don't leave the rugs with the printed labels on the deck, if they get wet they stick and require lots of elbow greese to get off.
most 100qt coolers would fit. I have not looked into a frigid ridge or any of those types yet, not in my budget right now but will be down the road. A simple measurement from the pedastal to the bench seat is all you really need. For inshore fishing I don't mind it in the cockpit, or for when running, but for offshore or when we are anchored for a while it gets stowed at the helm, opens the cockpit up a ton. We also took the cushion off our old cooler and mounted snaps so we can reuse it and it acts as another place to sit on the way out.

 

[eppem]

All good tips about cleaning the fish box and possible causes of blockage...we run with an igloo cooler also, not sure what size, (i want to say 90 - 110 quarts)? Point being, purchase the cushion that snaps on top of the cooler, makes a great seat for the family or for far runs offshore.