Is it necessary to run an intake grate?

[El Prosecutor]

I have had my boat for a year and a half and it has never had an intake grate. I only run it on California lakes (Ming, Buena Vista, Millerton, Isabella). Should I get one or not?

[TahitiTiger]

wow! I would, put on! theres is alot of debris in the lakes. I know that Nacimento, and San Antonio both have debris at the beging of the season, especially after a good rain. If you have a Berkely pump, I have my stock OE intake grate, if you want. PM me for details.

[centerhill condor]

no, if you can get away with it!

[flat broke]

I'd be running one if I was up on Isabella. There can be a lot of debris in certain parts of the lake depending up on the time of year. The last thing you'd want is a small branch or something comming up the intake at 50mph.
Chris

[jbone]

We were testing different loaders and grates in my buddies jet one day. For fun we tried it without a grate. That was the slowest run of the day. The stock rock grate performed well against other top loaders. This was in a 63 mph jetboat.
J