White Nylon Stuffing Box-replacing the flax packing in the water.

[parrothead531]

I need to replace the flax packing in my 1989 Hunter 30, which has the white nylon stuffing box. I watched a friend with a Catalina replace his flax packing (with a metal packing nut) in the water and he has done this (in the water) on 3 different boat models with no problems.

My concern is that I think the new flax goes in on the prop side of the packing nut (i.e. against the flow of the incoming water). Does anyone have any experience with this who can offer advice. I'm nervous about attempting this with the boat in the water. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Steve Dion]

If you are not confident, then have a pro do it.

Roger:

If you are not comfortable doing this in the water, just hire a pro to do it. They do it all the time. It will probalby cost you 1 hour labor or less and the cost of materials.

 

[tcbro]

A couple of things...

... to consider.

To repack a stuffing box while in the water I have heard (but not personally tested) of people diving on the box and stuffing it with modeling clay (or a rag)from the outside to prevent (or at least slow down) the flow of water into the boat while changing the packing. You should dive again when you are done to remove the modeling clay so the seawater can get into the stuffing box and lubricate the shaft as it is supposed to do.

A warning on those plastic stuffing boxes...it is almost impossible to remove the packing flax as there is a flat plastic washer blocking access to the flax. When I had one ('87 H28.5) I couldn't get the packing out because I couldn't get the washer out. Of course, I didn't know the washer was in there until I removed the whole assembly to replace it with a bronze one. I decided to replace it after the owner of the H31 next to me showed me his. When I asked him about how to get the flax out he went below and when he came up he tossed the old plastic stuffing box to me. It was cracked 270* around. He had to do an emergency repair with JB Weld to get to where he could have it hauled. I never thought that the stuffing box was a place to go with plastic. His story scared the sh*t out of me and I ordered a bronze one that afternoon.

I realize that there are hundreds of plastic stuffing boxes out there but I felt a lot better after I replaced mine with bronze.

 

[Warren Milberg]

As Tom notes below,

the white nylon OEM stuffing box used on some Hunters is a challenge to repack correctly. See attached pic. This gland has two rings of packing material and three compression washers. The first two washers MUST be removed in order to repack the gland correctly. I was never able to do this on my H28.5 and I never trusted the gland, either. So, I replaced it with a conventional bronze gland that is simple to repack. Since your boat is pushing 20 yrs old, you may want to simply just replace the gland rather than try to deal with those damned washers....

 

[Roger]

Thank you.

Thank you for the advice and information. Warren, thanks for the photo--that's exactly what I needed to understand what I am working with. I'll most likely replace it with a bronze one at the next scheduled haul out in the spring time. Thanks again.
Roger

 

[Rick D]

Faced With The Same Issue A Boat Ago...

... I replaced it with a PSS shaft seal. Rick D.

 

[Moonbeams]

Re-Packing Not A Problem

I took care of re-packing my stuffing box 2 months ago. In the water.
The jam nut unscrews after removing the large split pin. It should be only hand tight. The packing I used was the 1/4" size with graphite impregnation. Bought at West Marine.

I unscrewed the jam nut, slid it as far forward as it would go and used a sharp pointed pick the remove the old packing material. (The shaft willl leak a little but not enough to matter.) I used a dental mirror to check the inside of the jam nut. I saw NO washers as described elswhere, here. Just a cavity inside the jam nut.
I cut 3 lengths of the new gland material and wraped each around the shaft, slipping them into the jam nut. I alternated the cut-ends so that they would not line up. Then I screwed the jam nut into place to where the dripping stopped. Replaced the split pin after lining up the holes.

The Hunter 30 Owners manual refers to the bronze stuffing box technique, but in talking to Hunter they said that the nylon box was a factory substitution.

When the dripping becomes excessive (it should drip a little) remove the split pin and tighten 1/4 turn ... replace the spliy pin.
A 33.5 of the same 1993 vintage has bronze stuffing box and needs two wrenches to adjust the pressure and lock the jam nut. This NYLON stuffing box is far easier, in my view.

It takes longer to talk about it than to do it.

There you have it!

BILL Jaworowski
H30T 1993 "Moonbeams", Carlyle IL.