Packing Nut does not drip BUT also does not get hot...

[Levin]

Hello all,

So I'm having an issue on my Hunter 340 that has me a bit stumped. About a year ago I noticed that my packing nut was dripping a bit too often both when I was under sail and when I was sitting still with the engine off. I had the nut repacked when I bought the boat in 2005 and hadn't adjusted it since that time. I knew I could probably get some life out of it before having to go through the repacking process so I followed Maine Sail's "How to" about tightening the packing nut and it stopped dripping while sitting still and still seemed to drip enough when the engine was running... I then promptly forgot about checking back up on it assuming all was good.

Fastforward a year and I'm checking on other things near the strut one day and notice that there is absolutely no water below the nut (normally some builds up before it drains to the bilge) but there is a lot of what looks like salt deposits as well as what looks like salt deposits on the strut itself before it meets the back of the engine. Anyway I take it out the next day to see if it drips when running and noticed it doesn't hardly drip at all (perhaps one drip every 2-3 minutes) but I also notice that nothing is getting hot around the packing glad.

So should I be worried? Isn't the purpose of the packing gland dripping to make sure that the strut doesn't get that hot when spinning? If it isn't getting hot isn't that mean it is working correctly? And what's with the salt deposits? I don't know if I always had those but it seems to be new... but then who knows.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Levin

 

[uptownsteve]

I repacked my stiffing box in March and I have the same situation as you. No drip and a white deposit around the shaft. I have runs several hundred hours with no problems. The packing nut runs cool. I too wondered about this. Perhaps someonecan tell us what the white deposit is.

 

[Ross]

taste the white deposit. I will bet that it is salt from the water that evaporates before it drips off the nut

 

[Stu Jackson]

What???

Nomenclature: the strut is outside the boat. What you describe as the place where the white stuff is building up is the prop shaft.

If your stuffing box is OK, then you'll need to find out what else is going on down there. Why not just clean it off and keep an eye on it for a change instead of just peeking in there once a year?

That's what I would do if it was my boat.

Smells, sounds, leaks and wiring (without wiring diagrams) are something that are really hard to help with on the internet.

I also remember many folks suggesting to you that you buy Nigel Calder's Boatowners Manual, which discusses the in & outs and whys & wherefores of the stuffing box in great detail.

I tend to agree with Ross, although I'm not sure how this would migrate uphill from the box to the coupling on the shaft. That's why you need to keep an eye on it.

But looking at the picture again, is the prop shaft rubbing against that bump in the fiberglass between the box and the coupling. We can't tell form here with that one picture.

 

[JoeWhite]

Looking at the photo - the black hose seems to have salt stains on it that is just above the stuffing box. Could it be that water is dripping from the hose?

 

[Bob J.]

If you look closely you'll notice the shaft has the same deposits on it where it meets the tranny coupling. If the stuffing box isn't hot when the wheel is turning, don't worry about it.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Bob

 

[kloudie1]

Yup.. it is fine, Levin.. Previously you probably had so much liquid water flying around that it washed off the salt .. Now ya have much less drippage and what you are seeing is the salt from the small amount of water evaporating.. The salt deposit says it is dripping a little and the lack of heat says it is dripping enough.

 

[BobM]

Unless the white deposit is wax or teflon! I thought my stuffing box was dripping after installing new packing...but the stuff dripping out wasn't water!

 

[Levin]

So if it's not broke don't fix it eh?

Hello all,

So it sounds like the consensus is that my packing nut is fine, so long as it isn't getting hot when it's running. It also sounds like the salt deposits that I've noticed are just the result of a very slow drip rate. After looking again I'm pretty sure the deposits are salt and not wax or Teflon, so I guess there is nothing to worry about.

Thanks again for the help.

-Levin

 

[Stu Jackson]

One more thing, Levin

Like Mom always said: Clean up! It's the only way you'll know what, if anything, is goin' on down there. Spic n Span is better to let you know if anything's changing over time.