All of my experience is with Alphas and The Velocity that I recently picked up has a Mercury Sportmaster drive on it. With my Baja, I used to back the boat up to an island, so that the drive was close to hitting bottom but not. (with drive up). When starting the boat to leave in the afternoon, I was able to lower the drive a small bit and warm up the motor. With the side water intakes, it didn't pull up much sand.. With the Sportmaster water pick up being on the front of the drive, with the drive up, the water pick up will be close to the bottom, so it will probably suck up a lot of sand. Obviously this is no good. Is there a filter or strainer that can be put in line that will keep the sand from ruining the impeller? Alternatively, yes I can just pull the boat out a bit before starting....... But it would be nice to have some sort of filter there in case. Thanx in advance for any suggestions..

There are sea strainers that are made for use in the sandy waters. You would have to put it inline with the seawater pump to protect it. Simpler to push the boat out..

Dick