okay this is the first outdrive of mine that has a low water pickup, and unfortunantly i brought the boat into shallow water by the beach and sucked sand, ruining my water pump.... other boats i have owned have the
intakes on the sides of the drives... they are obviously better for shallow water boating, is there a general preference here as to which is better,

pros and cons on the low water pickup?

should i replace the lower
or just install sea strainers,

avoiding slightly shallow water is not really an option in my area
i just have to use more care when going to these places

any thought or suggestions would be appreciated

sea strainers are always a very good idea, I have had all three types of pickups and can say that the nose cone type are problematic if you have to deal with a muddy bottom, the dual pickup or older style side only will be more reliable.

You need a good, tall strainer that works on swirling action if you're around alot of sand. Regardless of what pickup you use. The low water pickups are a must for drives with high X dimensions and drives that get trimmed up. Those side pickups can't take water in if they're not under water.

Don't Trim Up Leave Paralel With Bottom Of Lake.if You Trim Up It Sticks The Pickup In The Bottom

Mine was a low water pick up only,spoke with a Merc rep at a show and he told me I could drill the sides and make it a dual water pick up,
he told me to only drill 4 holes per side,never had a problem since