My needs are aligned with Sailorman's. When I'm pumping
cooling water for my AC and not underway, I'm usually in areas with a lot of plant and algae material. I use a larger
Raritan (approx half gallon) strainer. I also keep an extra strainer basket so that I can quickly exchange the basket. Even the large strainer can be frequently plugged in the Chesapeake if you're sucking up nettles (jellyfish). I also have placed a T-fitting between my Strainer and my March pump where I have a hose with a fitting that can recieve shore
dock hose. With this, when the need arises, I can "blow" off a cluster of debris that might collect agaisnt the through
hull influent. Recently, I had an occurance that caused me to dive down to clean this "clam-shell" influent cover. I had my AC on while an adjacent
boat was being cleaned by a diver. Much filamentous algae was removed and, with the
current set, these fine long hairs of algae tangled in my influent cover. Turning on my backflush allowed me to pull all this messy stuff away. By the way, I put on latex gloves to scoop the stinging nettles out of my strainer in the Chesapeake!