Stuffing Box Musings

[Fleet Captain]

A few of us have been having an offline discussion about stuffing boxes and the”dripless” PSS shaft seals. Since the D37 engines are mounted “backwards” with a v-drive, the stuffing box is under the engine and can be a real “knuckle buster” to maintain.

I was considering replacing the stock stuffing box with a PSS, but understand that they can be a bit temperamental and not worth the trouble.

This begs a follow on question for me—How long before ya’ll consider re-packing your standard stuffing box? I’m interested in some metrics a little more sophisticated than, “when you can’t stop the leaking” since I want to do this on haul out (planned once every two years). After XXX engine hours would be most helpful.

Thanks

[Al Sampson]

They are not more trouble than they are worth! I have had them in two boats now and wonuld not own a boat without one.
It has been 15 years on Wanderlust. However when I installed the first one on Wanderlust I used an unvented one that required burping! So this season reworked it into a vented one. Why I didn’t do that 15 years ago I don’t know as the one on my previous boat was vented. They only sell vented units today.

Al

[Snoodle Time]

Barry,

I swapped out the packing on Snoodle Time while up the bay. There is a small amount of water coming through the stuffing box. Not a big gush of water like the imagination brings to mind. Not that bad a deal until you put you new drippless in.

[Mike Aitken]

IRIS had the stuffing box repacked when I had a new prop shaft & rudder post made 4 years ago. The old shaft was “welded” to the shaft collar & had to be cut off when I removed the engine. The new shaft was installed about 310 engine hours ago – The packing was replaced at that time.

I thought I’d put in a new dripless unit in with the new shaft, since the engine was out of the boat & it would be a reasonably simple job – I had to put some kind of stuffing box back in……..I mentioned this idea to Frank Rose, and asked for his thoughts – Frank owns Roses Marine Service in Gloucester MA & he did all the shaft and rudder machining work. He also refabricated a new stern tube for IRIS, since the old one had some issues. Roses Marine has been keeping the Gloucester fishing fleet & other “heavy use” vessels going for years & does “recreational work” for folks like me. He is a great guy and his work is the best………..Just a FYI: When he was making my new 1″ x 5 foot shaft he had 4 new shafts in his shop for the High Speed ferries – 8-9 inch diameter stainless by 20 feet long – I can just imagine the bill for that one!!

Frank’s comments on stuffing boxes to me were –
Conventional stuffing boxes never fail all at once – dripless ones can – very infrequently, but it happens.
Conventional boxes are easy to work on. Use waterproof grease on the threads and they never seize.
New Packing Made by Gore-Tex (GFO Packing) makes conventional boxes pretty much watertight – and the packing lasts many, many times longer than conventional packing.
You already own what you have……it’s simple technology.

So….I repacked with the GFO packing – per Frankie’s suggestion.. It has worked well. It does not drip hardly at all, the stuffing box is just warm to the touch after 3-4 hours of motoring, and was straight forward to install.
I think the packing cost $8 – It’s sold off large reels.

I mentioned the same packing to a friend who “lives” on his boat – a 1938 wooden cutter. He sails in the fall from New England to Florida & on to the Bahamas and back for summer…. He repacked his stuffing box 3 years ago & has put about 2400 hours on his engine – no issues & the stuffing box is still good & water tight.

My sense is that there is no “right” answer – but the newer packing materials run much cooler & last much longer than old style “flax” packing – I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen so far. I’d do the same thing again – It’s easy.

Do a little looking around on line for “Gore Tex” GFO packing. Makes for interesting reading.

[Fleet Captain]

Thanks Guys,

A lot of good info here. As I am learning, there does not seem to be a “magic metric” as there are as many variables as opinions on the most sensible stuffing box solution. This all started when I was last on the hard, ready to re-pack when the very experienced ocean racer next to me asked, “Why?–if it an’t broke–” (you know the rest).

Barry

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