Sabre 34 stuffing box access

Aug 1, 2019
2
Sabre 34 Green turtle bay
This is my first sailboat, I am pretty sure that my stuffing box is leaking, and I have no clue how to get to it.
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
This is my first sailboat, I am pretty sure that my stuffing box is leaking, and I have no clue how to get to it.
You don't say which Sabre 34 so impossible to say. If it is a MKI it will depends which side your shaft exits, port or starboard. If it's port exit, most common & typically with a Westerbeke, you remove the access panel in the quarter berth, the one under the cushions, lay on your side and do it one handed. Not a particularly easy job.....
 
Aug 1, 2019
2
Sabre 34 Green turtle bay
You don't say which Sabre 34 so impossible to say. If it is a MKI it will depends which side your shaft exits, port or starboard. If it's port exit, most common & typically with a Westerbeke, you remove the access panel in the quarter berth, the one under the cushions, lay on your side and do it one handed. Not a particularly easy job.....
Yeah, it's a 1984 with a Westerbeke and port side prop, so what your saying is that it is a one handed blind job. Thnx.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
One doesn't "change the stuffing box."
Opps I did it again... I said ‘Change my clothes when I meant to say change my stained tighty whitey under pants... My bad’.

Remove and replace the flax (or similar) stuffing in the metal (sometimes plastic) fitting known as a “stuffing box”. It really does not have a box shape. It is a round bronze but sometimes plastic nut fitting that wraps the engine’s propeller shaft. You can see if tightening the concentric nuts will stop the drip. Or you can separate them and remove/replace the material known as “stuffing” but is really a gasket material when compressed forms a seal around the shaft to stope water from entering the boat along the shaft.
 
Jan 7, 2011
4,723
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
Sounds like a “try to tighten” scenario to me. If that doesn’t stop the drip, wait until haul out to repack.

If it really is that hard to see the stuffing box, how do you know when you have tightened it enough to stop the drip?

Greg
 
  • Like
Likes: jssailem
Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
Are we sure that it's leaking or performing as expected? It should drip a tad when the engine is running.
 
Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
Installing a pss was easier than stopping window leaks.