Uuuuuuuuugh. On our way back from DC, we anchored overnight in an area with lots of weeds on the surface. Before getting underway, I opened the sea strainer to clean it out. When I closed it back down, I apparently crushed the old (and brittle) gasket, which broke into a couple pieces. The result was that the sea water intake was drawing air through the lid, rather than drawing water from the thru-hull. The engine overheated, and we were towed in to Colonial Beach. One symptom here worth noting: We were running fine for several hours at low RPMs (7-8 knots), as it seemed there was enough water flow like that. Overheat occurred within a minute or two of cranking up to 10 knots.
I was disappointed in myself for not having a spare gasket. A package of gasket material from Napa took care of it. I used the strainer lid as a template, and cut a new gasket out of cork material. A little waterproof grease (Morey's Red) also helps keep the gasket in place, and helps seal it down.
The gasket kit stays on board all the time, now. A hole punch also comes in handy, for punching holes in the gasket where screws pass through.
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