My bilge thanks you

[All U Get]

Hi all,
While getting our boat ready for our trip I've been cleaning the bilge one section at a time. The dripless packing had a drip under power so before adjusting it I decided a cleaning was in order. Vinegar and a toothbrush twice in the morning and then using a brass brush the third morning and the results are below, thanks for the advise. I did take up two flats on the packing bolts, (the first flat was quite loose). Do these dripless units have wax in them or heavy grease?
All U Get

 

[Maine Sail]

Hi all,
While getting our boat ready for our trip I've been cleaning the bilge one section at a time. The dripless packing had a drip under power so before adjusting it I decided a cleaning was in order. Vinegar and a toothbrush twice in the morning and then using a brass brush the third morning and the results are below, thanks for the advise. I did take up two flats on the packing bolts, (the first flat was quite loose). Do these dripless units have wax in them or heavy grease?
All U Get

Looks good!

Unfortunately that is not a "dripless" seal. It is a traditional packing box with packing rings. It should drip slightly when under way. If you don't know the type of packing that is in there treat it like traditional flax. Should run within 20 degrees of water temp...

 

[All U Get]

Hi Main Sail,
Thanks for the quick reply and I'll keep an eye on it while we travel. It always dripped last summer and would be moist while on the mooring. I couldn't tell how much because the bilge was a little dirty. Now it shows if something drips. Thanks again.
All U Get

 

[Nodak7]

Hi all,
While getting our boat ready for our trip I've been cleaning the bilge one section at a time. The dripless packing had a drip under power so before adjusting it I decided a cleaning was in order. Vinegar and a toothbrush twice in the morning and then using a brass brush the third morning and the results are below, thanks for the advise. I did take up two flats on the packing bolts, (the first flat was quite loose). Do these dripless units have wax in them or heavy grease?
All U Get

What is the hose that is coming off aft of the packing?

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

You Have the Perfect Packing Gland ...................

................... to run in a dripless condition.

Most of us with newer packing glands are stuck with the usual packing nut which does away with the gland follower with which you are so richly blessed. The older style gland follower does a perfect job of pressing the packing against the shaft as the bottom of the follower is slightly conical in shape as shown in the attached sketch.

One of the best modern packings, in my experience, is teflon impregnated flax although several on this site state they get even longer life out of GFO packing while running dry. I'm shooting for five years operating life after recently packing my gland.

The reason these modern packings do so well running in a dry condition is that they have an internal source of lubrication (rather than a thin layer on the surface) so the lubricating medium is always available between the packing and the shaft. The other reason these packings work well on sailboats is the relatively slow surface speed of the prop shaft. High speed power boats, maybe not so well.

Here is a recent posting on my historical experience with running my packing gland dry (even with the cheap gland design).

http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=872589&highlight=need to leak

So, congratulations on your spit and polish bilge and keep it that way by running your stuffing box in a dripless condition. We store the toilet paper in our bilge .

 

[All U Get]

Re: You Have the Perfect Packing Gland ...................

Thanks Ralph,
So the hose is a gland follower and it has a vented loop which joins the raw water loop on it's way to the exhaust mixer elbow. Would this keep the shaft cooler?
All U Get

 

[FourPoints]

I'm just guessing here, but I suspect a vented loop would allow the air bubbles that collect around the prop shaft in heavy weather or in hard reverse to leave preventing the type of problems that Maine Sail recently wrote about...

seems like a good idea, not sure why it's not more common?

 

[All U Get]

Made our trip from RI to Maine 27 hours total and I dried up the water dripping in the bilge each day. Since the winds were light in heavy fog we motored all the way. I'd say that all worked well.
All U Get