Sea strainer benefits....
 

Got a dumb question, well actually it's a question I don't have the answer to, so I'll ask it anyway...
What are the benefits of sea strainers?
I am considering installing one, & my main reason is. I've got low water pick-up on my Bravo, & where I boat, the sand tends to shift alot, & it's not uncommon to bump bottom approaching shore. My Donzi had low water pick up & it only took about 10 seconds in the sand to pack it full....
With a strainer installed, will it just pack the strainer & I can simply clean it out, or will it still go past the strainer & into the hoses? :(

Few strainers will keep out fine silt, but that's not necessarily what you're worried about. Most will keep out the coarse, gritty sand that will do damage and clog things up. Since they're likely to be mounted below the waterline, don't forget to install ball valves between the pickups and the strainers. This way, you don't flood your bilge with sandy grit when you take the lid off to clean them out. (Ask me how I know...)

Also - When you shop for strainers, bear in mind how you will run your hoses, and how easy it will be to get the lid off and back on while standing on your head in a boiling hot engine compartment while the boat's rocking in bad seas and the Missus is getting impatient.

Here's my current setup, using modified Gil strainers. I relocated the fittings myself to get them where I wanted them. The only thing I don't like about them is trying to keep the o-ring in place on the lid when re-installing it. The smaller hoses coming out of the front are engine flush fittings. I located them under the screen, so that flushing water through them with the engines off should (theoretically) push everything that's on top of the screens back out through the water pickup. Since I have an onboard water system, I hope to be able to clean the strainers without having to even open them up. Kind of like back-flushing pool filters....

Good Luck!

Best functioning ones i have used are stainless marine. Not the prettiest, but the easiest to take off the lid and clean out.

I have the large Marine Machine ones, they work good. Seaweed, small stones, large sand

One of the manufacturers just came out with a sand strainer last year. That would be the ticket. Someone should know who makes it.

I packed my HP500EFI full of mud in a moments notice, in my 26 Sonic, when I found a new mud shoal on the James River years ago. Its not a fun process to clean.

Follow C-Spray's advice. I won't run our area in NJ w/o them. I just put a set in my Comp. over the winter.
As stated already it wont handle silt but unless you did what I did once (run it into some muck, collapse the screen from the suction, and fill every orifice of the motor with muck and eel grass) you will be ok. I also like water pressure gauges. They will instantly show if you have any blockage.

It seems like the strainer will be a good bit of insurance. Removing & cleaning out water hoses that are packed full of sand, while on the water is not my idea of a fun day.
I appreciate the input, I will look into the one that has a "sand filter". That is mostly what I would encounter.
On my Donzi, I installed a transom pick-up & that eliminated my sand issues, but looking at the Sonic, I'm not sure how hard it would be with the notched transom. The strainer looks a bit easier to install, so I'll go that route.

You will be amazed at how much sh!t ends up in the strainer.

Anything that would filter out sand will plug easily. That's the problem with the fine-screen blower intercooler strainers. Strainers work in two ways- one is screen filtration, the other is reducing water velocity allowing debris to fall from the water column. The one's that swirl can separate more sand but if you plow into sandy muck, you're stuck anyway. The taller the strainer and the larger the hose diameter, the more efficient they'll be at removing debris.