E-34 engine seawater intake; built in thru-hull strainer

I have just recently purchased a 88' E-34 as noted in previous threads and have yet sailed or motored her extensively.
I notice that on the engine sea-water intake, the hull strainer is built into the thru-hull and is flush with the hull. I typically see the standard round or oval shape surface mounted strainer attached to the hull with standard thru-hull.

I am scratching my head 'is there a enough holes in this flush mounted screen for the seawater to flow freely and is this a maintenance issue and prone to clogging mid season?'. I am planning to add a internal seawater inline strainer between the seacock to the seapump. If this is not a original manufacturer strainer, I can understand why the previous owner had this installed because the sailboat was set up for weekly racing (that is not my intent).

Has anyone have a similar engine strainer and have you found it to be problematic?
Another thought besides adding a inline strainer was to drill out larger holes in the built in strainer, which would provide more water to enter into the thru-hull.

Patrick

My impression is that most through hulls for raw engine water do have that screen, and that it is often gummed up with barnacles or sea life. Clean or drill it by all means.

Many of us have a basket strainer on the inside. With my bronze Groco, the top comes off and a stainless basket lifts out. The case is (more or less) clear, so you can see at a glance if there's glop in there.

Prior related thread:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?14784-sea-strainer

and our similar one in this entry:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?140-Coupler-Shaft-Seal-and-Antifreeze

On most boats the largest challenge is just finding a suitable place to mount the strainer. We are also quite pleased with the two-way engine thru hull with its provision for a flushing hose.

I have seen a picture of a bronze (and also an SS version) one piece thru hull ($$$$) with the strainer mounted on top. Looked like it would need a Lot of clearance overhead, and also be more at risk from being broken off if whacked with something solid, due to total height. (My opinion only and YMMV)

Further: I would advise NOT having any sort of external screen or cover. IMHO they just provide an attachment place for weed and barnacles and also the odd plastic bag to embed itself. Let your internal strainer do the job, and you can look at it and clean it without having to dive under your boat. (again, just my opinion...)

Patrick,

I have a 1983 35-3. It came with the flush mount strainer also. It would clog at the worst times...coming into Ocracoke channel when the ferry boat would leave.
The ferry boat would stir up the sea weeds and my engine would overheat.

I took off the flush strainer, added a half round round one (hinged for cleaning) and a full strainer with internal basket. Never had an other problem.
There is something about the half round one under the boat that just works. I check the basket strainer..but rarely any sea weed.

Hilco on Sketcher

Common problem, many solutions.......

When I added an internal basket strainer, I considered what to do with the original thru-hull strainer. My thoughts were: 1) to keep growth off the external strainer, it should to be painted with ablative paint, and 2) being fairly thick, two coats of ablative paint would decrease the size of the openings, and possibly restrict the flow of water.

I didn't want to replace the existing thru-hull or drill it out completely and add a dome strainer on top of it (requiring more screw holes in the hull). My solution was to remove half of the "grid" pieces from the original strainer. The pieces were fairly easy to cut out with an exacto knife blade.


Original .....................................................Altered

I removed the pieces that were oriented toward 'amid-ships', thinking that the grid-lines in-line with the water flow would more readily shed any nearby debris. I slapped on two thick coats of ablative paint and called it good. No problems since.

If you go the route of an external bronze dome strainer, I think the Mainesail site (pbase.com) lists some common do's and dont's.


Basket Strainer Installation. (Design stolen from Bruce Gary as an attempt at the sincerest form of flattery....)

Good Luck.

Kenneth,
That sounds like a good plan for me moving forward and resolves my concerns. Your original picture is very similar to what I currently have and cutting in slots would be a good solution along with applying bottom paint to the screen (which currently is bare metal screen) and install a basket strainer which was my intent.
Thanks

Patrick
E-34

Sea strainer shapes.

Patrick, I too worried about the small size of the factory strainer and minimal holes so I replaced it with a larger round base, domed shape one from Buck Algonquin. Seems to have worked for me, maybe for you too. All the best for you and the family on and off the water in this coming new year. Glyn Judson E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey CA