so i hear guys talkin about a kerosene pump. an i really don't know what one of those are. but i need somn to keep them fishy's alive. preferrably somn that doesn't run off a 12vlt battery. thanks for your input.

pics of kerosine pumps below. I taped mine up and put silicon around the battery compartments to make them not leak water. You used to be able to get them at this emergency supply store in Mountain View on El Camino, but I heard they are no longer there. I bet if you look around online or call around to some emergency supply or army surplus type stores you can find some. I've been using the same two pumps for like 5 years now, they seem to last really well.

http://www.bass-n-tubes.com/albums/rigging/livewell.jpg

http://www.bass-n-tubes.com/albums/rigging/pump_brand.sized.jpg

Andy, if you cant find a kerosene pump locally Cabelas has them for $25, as oil filter pumps for turkey frying. I'll bet if you can find one locally it will probably be cheaper.

I used a kerosene pump for about a year and it worked fine The only thing I didn't like was always replacing batteries.

I upgraded the depthfinder on my kickboat from a fishin buddy and needed to go with a 12V system anyway, so I picked up an Atwood 500GPH submersible bilge pump at Walmart for $10. Then got a 12V, 8 amp hour battery and charger on sale for around the same $25 as the kerosene pump. I have been very happy with this setup ever since and haven't killed a fish due to a livewell malfunction yet.

There are pro's and con's for each system but for me the 12V system was better in the long term. The kerosene pumps are much lighter weight but they pump at a much lower GPH and you need to replace the batteries.
Even the lowest GPH bilge pump you can get will fill the livewell lots faster. A full charge on my battery will ususlly be sufficient to run my depthfinder and livewell for a two day tournament depending on how much I run the pump to re-circulate the water in the livewell.

I'm not trying to talk you out of the kerosene pump the do a good job.
Just thought I would toss in my 0.02 :+

MT