I'm finally getting around to relaunching my boat and I have questions. Can I/should I paint my transducers with bottom paint? After six months on the hard, is there any danger that the stuffing box is dried out?
Question before relaunch
- Thread starter IH82BL8
- Start date
No. Do not paint your transducers. Antifoulling paint on a depth sounder transducer has often rendered it to not work and on an impeller for speed, you might just gum stuff up. Not hard to clean them periodically if necessary.
Most likely your stuffing box packing is not worn out id it was in good shape 6 months ago, but if you are going to change to new stuff, now is the best time to do it. This can be tightened also, to eliminate leaking. You do, however, want it to drip a little while the shaft is turning to keep things cool.
That's my 2 cents.
Most likely your stuffing box packing is not worn out id it was in good shape 6 months ago, but if you are going to change to new stuff, now is the best time to do it. This can be tightened also, to eliminate leaking. You do, however, want it to drip a little while the shaft is turning to keep things cool.
That's my 2 cents.
Mdr-720 .................
.................. is the stuff you're looking for.
It's water based and comes in a 2 oz. container. Does an excellent job of keeping the depth transducer clean and I usually only bottom paint every three years. Don't use on a speed transducer as it will foul the bearings and knock the paddle wheel out of balance.
The bottle I have still has much of the original 2 oz. after 14 years.
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=4111
.................. is the stuff you're looking for.
It's water based and comes in a 2 oz. container. Does an excellent job of keeping the depth transducer clean and I usually only bottom paint every three years. Don't use on a speed transducer as it will foul the bearings and knock the paddle wheel out of balance.
The bottle I have still has much of the original 2 oz. after 14 years.
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=4111
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Follow-up:
The stuffing box had dried out considerably in 7 months on the hard. The boat was launched this past Monday, 11/25. The marina called around 5pm to let me know that is was in the water. I arrived around 6pm to check on it. All was satisfactory except that the stuffing box was dripping and there was 1.5-2.0 gallons of water in the pan under the engine. I bailed most of it out and then timed the drips at 13 seconds apart. I calculationed that it would take about two weeks at that rate to accumulate another 1.5 gallons, so I knew that the drip had slowed considerably since launch.
Yesterday (Friday) I checked on the boat again. It had taken on no more water and the stuffing box was not dripping. I removed the residual leakage and wiped the pan dry.
I'm satisfied that the stuffing box is sound. In retrospect, I should have soaked the stuffing box before launch. I had planned to spray it from below the day before launch but the water hose was frozen solid.
I'm very glad to have learned this lesson at no cost.
The stuffing box had dried out considerably in 7 months on the hard. The boat was launched this past Monday, 11/25. The marina called around 5pm to let me know that is was in the water. I arrived around 6pm to check on it. All was satisfactory except that the stuffing box was dripping and there was 1.5-2.0 gallons of water in the pan under the engine. I bailed most of it out and then timed the drips at 13 seconds apart. I calculationed that it would take about two weeks at that rate to accumulate another 1.5 gallons, so I knew that the drip had slowed considerably since launch.
Yesterday (Friday) I checked on the boat again. It had taken on no more water and the stuffing box was not dripping. I removed the residual leakage and wiped the pan dry.
I'm satisfied that the stuffing box is sound. In retrospect, I should have soaked the stuffing box before launch. I had planned to spray it from below the day before launch but the water hose was frozen solid.
I'm very glad to have learned this lesson at no cost.
Stuffing box packing (flax or Teflon) does not "dry out" being out of the water. Nor does it swell upon launch. It will however, drip or not drip as the shaft is turned if the shaft is out of alignment. If your packing has swelled after launching, then most likely it is not proper flax or Teflon packing and should be replaced pdq.