possibly a stuffing box question

[dlewis812]

apologies for the newbie type question/details..

due to little wind and over 100nm to cover had to motor for many hours. on the second day noticed the carpet over the rear bilge in the galley was soaked. opened the rear engine compartment door to see water being sprayed all over from the turning shaft. immediately put in neutral and turned the bilge pump onto manual which cleared out the water. after pausing for awhile with no harbor or suitable anchorage nearby went ahead and started motoring on at lower rpms at first. kept repeatedly checking and even after higher rpms was completely dry for the rest of the trip.

could this be water from the stuffing box? either it's too much or could it be that over the course of many hours just filled up the bilge? (not certain that the auto float switch is working properly - which of course need to look at as well).

if there's any question of all want to take to a yard to have inspected.

 

[shipwreck66]

The locking nut on stuffing box "may" have vibrated loose. Reset the packing nut where you just have the drip, then tighten the locking nut.

 

[jimmcgee]

Sounds like the bilge pump didn't cycle on. You should get a slow steady drip from the packing nut, and you may get a bit more when you're running. At least I noticed mine always dripped a little more after a long run. A float switch failing wouldn't be all that unusual.

Jim

 

[Bob S]

I seem to remember someone getting water into the bilge from the packing gland on the rudder. It only happened when the boat was under power which put the rudder lower in the waterline. Maybe this was happening to you? Seems odd that the stuffing box would just stop leaking because you where running at a lower RPM.
Just a thought.

 

[GreenLight]

I have a 91 Mk II too. I've looked at the stuffing box drip issue for several years. The stuffing box, along with a lot of other things aft of the engine, drips into a sump under the engine and does not spill over into the bilge area until the sump really gets full and then the water etc. goes over into the bilge which contains the electric pump.
So with the drip from the stuffing box, as described in my manual, I have to use a manual pump every week or so to empty the sump. This seems like a problem which the designer should have remedied and maybe I'm missing something. I've been disuaded from drilling a hole to drain the sump directly into the builg by other members of this forum who, correctly , are concerned about the environmental impact of draining the sump, which possibly contains fuel and oil, directly into the bilge. This is also not good for the engine oil pan. Does anyone else have concerns about this or...as I said before, am I missing something?