no water strainer?

[selvyselvy@aol.com]

My freshwater intake puts lake water directly into the tranny-then-engine with no water strainer, anywhere. Is that common? I found grit when draining out the water jackets.

Your thoughts?

Thanks,
Jim

[popeye323]

Hi

 I don't think so. My 323 has a Groco water strainer between the raw water inlet seacock and the transmission intake. Most boats have some type of filtering system in place to prevent debris from fouling the cooling system. It should be easy to retrofit by splicing the intake line and mounting a filtering system.

Steve

[selvyselvy@aol.com]

Thank you Popeye. It looks like an easy addition.

[Alma]

I've never had a strainer except the louvers on the through-hull. I had a problem once with debris clogging the engine intake through hull. I needed to swap the engine intake over to the galley salt water pump intake until I could haul out. No internal strainer could've helped that problem and no other situation I'm aware of has made an internal strainer necessary. The additional equipment, hardware and hose connections would present opportunity for a leak to cause the intake raw water pump to draw air and that would be a headache.

I often consider adding another through hull strainer on the other side of the hull tee'd into the engine intake similar to modern drains in spas and hot tubs that eliminate a chance of a clogged intake causing problems. With so many plastic bags and junk in the waterways today this simple addition would prevent grief should a bag come up alongside an intake- The other side would take over and the bag would slough off-

[Rusty Pelican]

Here in MA especially in M.V. and Nantucket eelgrass is the perfect size to clog water intake, and tons of it everywhere!
My in hull strainer,  is inline and is about 6+ inches long.
It's a must have in NE

[Valor]

This is a great article on the various types of strainers out there. After reading this, I replaced my external scoop type strainer with an opening one that I can clean. On the inside of the boat I have a Vetus bowl strainer as well.

https://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/external_strainers

[Alma]

That's a really nice blog, And OLD, the photos really tell a story.

Where is an exterior strainer that has removable grate?

All the more reason for two- one on each side of keel tee'd together. One side fouls a bag it slides off 'cause the suction is split. Two holes though...

[selvyselvy@aol.com]

Thank you all for your help, experiences and insight!