Why?
I guess I just can't figure out why anyone would go to the bother and the expense of fitting a dripless seal when the dripless stuffing for the conventional stuffing box is so effective, easy, and relatively inexpensive. And yes, in my job as Marina manager, I have known the seals to fail. Another comment....it is prudent to think out solutions ahead of time, and I have found many of the suggestions interesting. But, I would caution against being quite so glib about hopping overboard and shoving stuff in from the outside. I know of more than one person who was killed, doing exactly that, when the stern came down on his head in a swell. Actually, in the most dramatic case, the boat was about fifty miles offshore, the guy was killed instantly, and the wife did not know how to sail. She had to be taken off by a cruise liner on its way here to Cabo. Yes, there are times when there is no other solution other than to dive under the boat with a swell running, but don't invite it. That is why I also have Spurs on my shaft, to avoid the hassle of cutting away lines from my prop. By the way, ten years ago I contemplted installing a Lasdrop, but the boatyard cautioned against doing so on an older boat. They said that much depended on the shaft being aligned exactly in the center of the shaft log, and said that on many older boats this was not quite the case. I could see that mine was not quite centered, by the way. Anyway, I have never heard this comment before or since, but it came from a very good boat yard in whose interest it was to do the work of installation. My final comment is that if you tend to be in remote areas, as do I, you really need to think of not only quick fixes to emergency problems, but what to do next. If you have to replace your teflon stuffing, well that is a lot easier than hauling the boat and ordering a new Lasdrop or PSS! Particularly in the third world! Happy holidays, and I hope everyone stays afloat in the coming year.
