I thought we were talking about sand????? Unless it has a sand filter its useless in this situation. You are gonna need something like this,
http://www.hardin-marine.com/images/...e/625-4620.jpg
PS, you are not getting sand out of the filter with a basket.
Again not being a dick here but if I were you I would start thinking about solving the problem instead of fixing symptoms. I have 3 feet of water at my boat ramp on a good day and have to cross a sandbar 100 feet from the ramp. Almost guaranteed the drive will touch bottom at some point. Rebuilt my motor this past late Fall. No strainers, no filters and not a single grain of sand in the motor or exhaust.