My boat is stored in my backyard with it stern near trees.
During the winter when the cover in on the boat I have no problems.
In the fall and during the spring when the cover is off, the cockpit is
cluttered with leaves and small twigs. I have no strainers on the drains. I
have been getting away by getting the debris out of the cockpit by hand. At
time, I use the garden hose to flush the drain. If need it I use a
mechanical drain cleaner. The other solution that I find awkward is to cover
the cockpit with a plastic tap. Conversely, if your are under trees that are
dripping saps and dropping long needles a cockpit cover may be a good thing.



"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
Steven Shelikoff wrote:
Anyone have any good suggestions for keeping the strainers on the
cockpit drains clear? I went to the boat yesterday and again the
drains
were clogged with debris caught by the strainers. Anything that
happens
to fall in the cockpit (leaves, small twigs) have nowhere else to go
except the drain. It clogs, the cockpit fills with rainwater and it
eventually fills up as high as the companionway and gets into the
boat.

My cockpit drains never had strainers so I never had that problem. Of
course the problem I did have was occasionally droping things in the
cockpit and then losing them forever down the drain.

Andy