Raw Water Strainer Hard to Screw On/Off

I had tried a little silicone spray before backfoot100's post about plumber's grease. The silicone helped, but the petroleum products in the spray stained the inside of the clear bowl. I'll eventually get a new strainer and use plumbers grease; other issues to deal with for now.

Related question: I expected the strainer to flow water down the outside of the mesh and then up the center, so that any collected debris would be visible through the clear bowl on the outside of the mesh. But our temps were going up a bit so we pulled off the strainer bowl and the *inside* of the mesh cylinder was heavily coated with algae. Is the water supposed to flow from inside to outside? This seems backasswards.

Thanks.

If its that tight you might want to get a new one. The interference within the threads might prevent you from getting a good seal at the o-ring and cause an intermittent idle overheat.

Saliva makes a good lube in a pinch!

I have the same boat and engine and yes, the plastic on plastic is a bit rough. I too used some silicone spray to get it back on.