Critters blocking thru-hull

[chief14326]

I have a 89 Cat 30 and have been having a terrible time this season keeping my engine raw water intake free of critters. I have a raw water strainer, and this does a good job of taking care of weeds and other types of debris. The problem has been repeated blockage of the thru-hull itself with something. My only thought is some type of marine creature enjoys making a home in my intake. I have taken a garden hose with a solid tip and connected it to the raw water strainer and blasted away. I intially can feel some resistance then free water flow. I reconnect my hoses and the problem is gone. This has occured three times this season. Has anyone else had a similar experience, and if they did how did they remedy it. Is this something I will just have to learn to live with? I have owned the boat for three years and this is the first time this has happened.

 

[Ray Bowles]

Some locations grow critters very fast.

A couple of years ago we docked our 38 south of Fort Lauderdale Fla. There was a golf course about 150 yards away and with the runoff from ther operation we found it necessary to scrape the bottom every 3 weeks. The shell life was so bad that we found our thru hull blocked off and critters inside the hose running to the raw water strainer. The only option was to clean everything on a 3 week basis or to move the boat somewhere else. Everyone else in the marina simply put up with the cleaning cycle as liveaboard slips were hard to find and expensive. Ray Ray

 

[Windwalker]

One easy option

If you are getting critters & have antifouling paint in the hull strainer, then you might try mooring the boat in the slip (I assume you are in a slip) facing the other direction. Someties the sun, or current is more favorable in one direction than the other. AT least it's worth a try.