Water pickup options for a weedy lake

[tripower]

I'd like to add a high performance 21' outboard boat to my dock this year - Shadow, Superboat, Challenger, Activator, etc. But, a few of my friends have this style boat with low water pickup outboards, and they have issues on our lake near certain docks due to weeds - they get clogged pretty easily so they always have to keep an eye on temps and water pressure. So, are their any options for a low water pickup that work as well as the stock pickup when weeds are around? My wife will also be using the boat at times without me so a clogged, stranded boat isn't really an option

[tux974]

Bob's style 5 hole instead of the 3 hole sporty or 4 hole CLE will work much better. That is what we have done here on LI for the eel grass. You can also weld up a 3 or 4 case and redrill 5 smaller holes

[tripower]

Bob's style 5 hole instead of the 3 hole sporty or 4 hole CLE will work much better. That is what we have done here on LI for the eel grass. You can also weld up a 3 or 4 case and redrill 5 smaller holes

I'll check that out, thanks. If that style pickup does get clogged, can you usually clean it the typical way (putting the boat in reverse)?

[TooStroked]

The big difference in being able to simply put a boat in reverse to blow a clump of weeds off comes down to "screened openings" vs "holes." Generally speaking, the "holes" in a screened pickup are much smaller than even the smallest low water pickup using regular "holes." That said, the weeds really can't get stuck inside the screen and this generally allows a quick blast of reverse to clear a clump off.

With a low water pickup that uses holes in the front of the gear case, some of the holes (like on my CLE) are big enough to let some weeds get sucked partially in. Once that happens, no amount of reverse thrust is going to get them out. I actually carry a proper size Torx screwdriver for the CLE side plates and some long pipe cleaners for when this happens. It takes about 5 minutes of bobbing around and using bad words to clean the mess out. The Bob's style holes are smaller than those on my CLE, so they should make it harder to suck something in. Do they make it impossible? I don't know.

[tux974]

Hence the reason to close the 3 & 4 holes and add more but smaller holes!
We are loaded with eel grass here especially at certain times of the year. When back your trailer to load your boat at a ramp the trailer comes up loaded with grass!