Dripless vs Stuffingbox

[Maine Sail]

Ralph,

Seems like a lot of concern over something which has not really been an issue.. Having repacked many hundreds of boxes over 35+ years, I've not noted the threads tearing up packing unless of course someone crams in the wrong size. Alternatively the box could have been be incorrectly adjusted, lacked proper lubrication & caused too much friction and the packing tried to spin inside the nut. Neither of these situations are really the fault of the nut-type packing box.

 

[druid]

I (think I) see a big difference between the two glands (and I'm not sure if makes any practical difference). The "gland style" has the packing in the part that clamps onto the pipe protuding from the hull (ie the "fixed" part), while the "spud style" has the packing in the part that screws on. So when you're adjusting the packing, you are "disturbing" the packing less with the gland style - I like that!

I also have to think that if I had the gland style, I wouldn't have borked it. The Long Story is: While installing the solar panel on the back rail, I "temporarily" had the cable going to it just lying on the hull, near the prop shaft. Somehow underway it got tangled in the shaft coupling and took an air-duct with it. In a few minutes, there was copper wire, plastic and spring steel wrapped tightly around the prop shaft, and apparently it spun the stuffingbox nut (the part with the packing in it!) on the tube, stripping the threads. So - stuffingbox is ruined and I can't tighten it, and the distance from the stuffingbox to the coupling is too short for me to pull it apart.
If I had a "gland style" the mess MIGHT have even broken the bolts, but they'd be easy to replace!

So now you can see why I want to replace the engine so I'll have some "wriggle room" on the prop shaft, and have to replace the stuffingbox...

druid

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Maine Sail One,

One thing I did forget to mention about the spud type of packing gland is that the nut is just not deep enough to comfortably accept three rings of packing. I think I can only get about two turns on the nut until the packing is sufficiently tight. Not really a comfortable situation. Gland follower types of stuffing boxes are deeper for more turns of packing material and the studs ensure no surprises. Infinitely superior if I could ever find one for a 1" shaft as I have the room to fit one.

 

[Maine Sail]

Maine Sail One,

One thing I did forget to mention about the spud type of packing gland is that the nut is just not deep enough to comfortably accept three rings of packing. I think I can only get about two turns on the nut until the packing is sufficiently tight. Not really a comfortable situation. Gland follower types of stuffing boxes are deeper for more turns of packing material and the studs ensure no surprises. Infinitely superior if I could ever find one for a 1" shaft as I have the room to fit one.

This is an issue of a quality packing gland vs. a lower quality one. The Buck Algonquin or Spartan models fit three rings easily with plenty of thread engagement. The ones often used by Catalina, Hunter etc. do not always fit three rings with enough threads.

The problems I see with gland boxes are space and improper adjustment. Folks often don't torque them down evenly and the the packing leaks. Some of these have just two bolts but others have three or even four bolts and it is apparently easy to adjust them crooked, because a lot of folks do.....

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

The Buck Algonquin or Spartan models fit three rings easily with plenty of thread engagement. The ones often used by Catalina, Hunter etc. do not always fit three rings with enough threads.

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Very true as that's what I'm dealing with now. Don't know who throws these thing together but they should make one more and ............................... I really should, at the very least, change to deeper BA spud type or maybe there is a 1" gland follower type out there.

The problems I see with gland boxes are space and improper adjustment. Folks often don't torque them down evenly and the the packing leaks. Some of these have just two bolts but others have three or even four bolts and it is apparently easy to adjust them crooked, because a lot of folks do.....

If you could ever find one with a floating yoke driving the gland follower you'd really have something. This is common on larger valves.

There is less of a tendency to cock the follower by uneven tightening. However, if theowner is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other to tighten the nuts evenly, tough luck .