My husband and I just bought a 2001 H260 about a month ago. Our previous boat was a MacGregor 26S. The Hunter definitely has a few systems and things we didn't have on the Mac so we are on a steep learning curve. This is our first experience with a marine head. The Mac had no underwater thru-hulls, no seacock, etc. We keep our boat at a slip on a small lake in Ohio that has zebra mussels. I have read other posts on here about zebra mussels and no one seems to have too much trouble with them. Our Mac had no bottom paint or treatment of any kind and when we pull it at the end of the season the hull is literally carpeted with 1000s of mussels--essentially every square inch covered. The Hunter has bottom paint so I guess we're going to find out how much of a difference that makes. My question is this: Isn't my underwater thru-hull raw water intake for the marine head going to be completely blocked by zebra mussels in very short order? It's a fairly small thru-hull, can just barely get my pinkie in it. I don't believe there is any strainer anywhere in the system between the seacock or the Jabsco manual head. I feel like I need a strainer on the outside to keep the thru-hull from being blocked and I'm assuming I don't want zebra mussels in the head system either. If you do recommend an external strainer, how do I safely install that?