South Bay Style Strainer - Bonding Bolt

I've got a South Bay style strainer for my small gen. It does not have a removable screen. To clean or service inside it you have to remove the entire fixture. What I don't like about this is the one thru-hull bolt for the bonding wire. You have to remove this to remove the screen which means disturbing the watertight seal. And, of course, this go around the dang bolt broke off flush with the hull inside and out. Removing it was a PITA. Got me wondering what others have done to solve this issue and make it easier? The existing through hull bolt (machine screw technically) was a 10-24. So I opted to make the hole larger and use a 3/8-16 flathead bronze bolt bolted it in flush to the hull without the screen installed. I drilled and tapped a 10-24 hole in the center of the 3/8 bolt and will install the screen using a 10-24 into this bolt. This way future removal is a simple one person task with no need to disturb anything going through the hull. Anyone done anything else that works well? I could have replaced the fixture with one that has a removable screen but this seemed like a good solution. Time will tell I guess.

Have not had any problems on the inside of South Bay style strainer. There is also a full Perko bronze strainer on the inside, just after the valve. No issues there and rarely have to open it to clean it. We don't get much growth up here due to colder water. Only reason I removed the outside strainer is I needed to replace the sea valve and when I removed the valve I disturbed the 5200 on the thru hull so removed that to re-seal it. Of course, that's when I broke the bonding wire bolt.

Here's a few pics of the threaded bolt and the strainer back on. The slot head screw is what threads into the newly installed 3/8 thru-hull bolt.

That particular strainer does not have the holes in the back of the scoop area. I have a few other ones like the round screens and smaller grate type style shown in your pictures. I’m unaware of any issues from water being forced into the gen but then again, this gen is almost always running if I’m motoring. I could certainly drill a few holes in the back of the scoop but again, not sure I have any issues here. What would be an indication or problem created from water being forced into the gen if it were not running while motoring? Even if water were forced past the pump wouldn’t it just go thru the heatX and exit the same as if it were running?