Which Seawater strainer?

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Boat441

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I'm replacing my sea water strainer to a 50hp diesel engine. The current strainer is a bit corroded.

So what would people suggest. I've basically seen Groco and Perko and the vetus one. The first two are bronze with either plastic or glass sights depending on which model you go for and the vetus is all plastic. I'm more tempted for the bronze variants and the groco SA variant.

First I want to figure out which is the best, then I'll find the cheapest price for it!

Thoughts appreciated
Adj.
 
I replaced the bronze in line strainer on my Oyster 406 with a vetus type, almost solely so I could easily check the strainer. Works fine on my Perkins 4108 (49HP).
 
Good question! I had the gearbox (Hurth HBW 100 / ZF10M) replaced last year with the yacht in the water and the new box had a slightly different ratio - the old one was 1.79:1 and the new one is 2.05:1 - the original ratios appear unavailable new. That has chopped about 1 kt off the speed. Fortunately I have a maxprop so I can adjust the pitch - darglow have recommended an increase in pitch from 18 degrees to 20 degrees, which should hopefully remedy the situation. Vivere is out of the water at the moment so I have adjusted the pitch but obviously I won't know the result until we launch. I don't tend to run at max revs - normally cruising is at about 2000-2200, but I think I've seen around 3000.
 
I much prefer the bronze hull mounted sort you can easily rod clear. On one occasion my engine sucked up a bit of bladder wrack, on another, a jellyfish.
 
michael_w said:
I much prefer the bronze hull mounted sort you can easily rod clear. On one occasion my engine sucked up a bit of bladder wrack, on another, a jellyfish.
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You can also do that if you mount your Vetus type strainer immediately above the seacock.
 
I have managed to bung up my Vetus strainer within a few hours of motoring from clean. If I had a choice, I would fit a duplicate strainer and arrange to switch between them while on the move.
 
When my boat was lifted back in a few weeks ago the raw water system had drained down and when I started the engines water did not spray out of either exhaust. I decided to prime the Vetus filter so grabbed a jug from the galley, unscrewed the clear plastic top on the starboard engine and poured a jug of water into the basket and started the engine.

The young Croatian yard guy who had helped launch the boat seemed fascinated by this process and pointed at the funnel. I handed it to him and he went over to the port engine, unscrewed the filter top, filled the funnel and then carefully poured the water down the central pipe of the filter. I don't speak Croatian and tried to indicate with hand signals that the water was simply going back down into the sea. He then leaned over, refilled the jug and poured it down the central pipe again! My hand signals were obviously carp.

We got there in the end and he seem pleased to have learned something new.

PS - I have installed Speedseal Lifes on both raw water pumps so running dry for a minute or two would not have caused a problem but why bother when the fix is so simple - or should be. :)

Richard
 
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The vetus one, you can use the engine with a blocked through hull, just keep pouring water into the open top.
It does take up space in the engine compartment though.
 
Well I've ignored all the advice and gone for a JMP water strainer.

I prefer the bronze casting over plastic, and liked the detail on these such as the circlips on top of the threads so the wing nuts can't come off. I can just see me clearing the strainer out in a seaway and dropping a wing nut into the bilge!!!

I'll be fitting it over 1/2 term so will post some pics of before and after.
 
I have a Vetus which replaced the old brass one. Yes you can rod the brass type, but can't see if it needs doing, I reckon to clean it out about once a week on cruise. Dinghy pump easily clears inlet.
 
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