Perko Weed Guards for Intake Water Strainers

[joshmon71]

I have zero problems with water and the round strainer, and not running the pump. in fact I have to close the valve quite a bit as the kodiak tank can overfill running it forces so much water in.

I don't like the idea of running high speed with the perko weed guard that is hydrodynamic stuffing and forcing water into my thru hull. depending on the setup, you can have the seacock valve open, livewell off with another valve, and be putting a lot of pressure on the hoses that way. your exploring the weak link in the system that way. trust me the round strainer works plenty under way. disclaimer I can state is I am in the northeast-and only run my livewell for tuna fishing, and our waters are colder. still the flow rate is incredible. but in seeing how much water flows under way, pump off, I am more than happy and very glad I chose the round strainer-exactly as the guys who built a bunch of the wicked tuna boats told me to do so.

think about it this way- the round strainer. its round with holes on the back side and all sides. water can flow in, and flow out to some extent. the perko strainer you showed has no place for the water to exit, if the thru hull seacock valve is open its forcing water in the system.

The real crux here is you should have a flanged seacock that has a valve threaded right with it. that's the big point here-flanged seacock baby and valve. you can get a 3 piece or one piece setup. your call. think I went 3 piece(thru hull,flange,seacock valve) from groco. also make sure you buy the best marine hose, I used marine exhaust hose with the wire in it and its black colored. pricey. and double clamp each connection in opposite direction with the clamps. You can be 300 pounds and stand on my thru hull and valve. Or me and one big girl on my back. if you cant do that test, you should keep a survival suit handy and ditch bag.

the choice of strainer is a minor dealio in the scheme of things here. you cant go wrong with either choice. but I like round and plenty of water gets forced in.

in fact all my below water line hoses-thru hull to livewell, and 2 bilge pumps, are marine exhaust hose with every connection double clamped. those cheap accordion bilge hoses suck. 1-2 years, cold NE winter, they crack. and add a riser loop for the bilge pump hose if you can. my bilge pumps thru hulls get submerged in a decent offshore sea.

[FishStretcher]

Thanks for the help. I looked at some Groco round strainers the other night- they seem to be much lower profile. I think I will change to that.

[76Red18]

I don't know what type of weeds you have up there but the only scoop that will prevent S W Florida weeds from entering is the Groco perforated hull strainer with access door. Go to page 3 on that link you posted. Inline strainers clog to quickly. Slotted strainers allow too many smaller weeds to enter the pump, wrap around the impeller, slow it down and burn it up. We have large die offs in the summer when they let fresh water out of Lake O that produce huge floating mats that are impossible to avoid.

To bad we don't have the square grouper floating around like we used to...

[joshmon71]

water temps up here are not SoFLo hot, and we don't have weeds thus like y'all do. we also don't get girls in thongs up here like SoFLo . I don't like the clamshell style ramming water into my system. its all a minor point go with what ya want on the strainer in the northeast weeds are not that bad at least around the Cape. I like the round perforated, and proved it rams plenty of water on plane to keep multiple bluefish alive in a 40 gallon Kodiak. the other note is the clamshell I think threads onto the seacock. I prefer the 3 piece seacock setup, with separate strainer on bottom not threaded-4 pieces with strainer. at a later date if needed, any part of the setup can be replaced. make sure you use a piece of Penske or similar, or wood, glass over, and place the flanged seacock on that. make sure you think about transducers and water turbulence. use marine exhaust hose double clamped every connection.

ah square grouper. we had some on the cape but I was like 5 years old. good stories though.