Stuffing Box Adjustments

[Roy10289]

I have read and appreciated very much the post from MainSail regarding repacking a traditional stuffing box. I did the stuffing box on my boat last year,however I am not sure if I have adjusted it corectly. I contine to tighten it by 1/4 turns and it remains cool to the touch,but still drips perhaps more than it should. I have 4 rings of the correct size teflon rings in it. My question is, do you make theadjustments while the engine is running?? That is the only way to really see how many drops per second are coming out. I do it by 1/4 turns with the engine off. Am I doing this wrong??

 

[Roger Long]

The traditional way is to turn it until the drip just stops with the engine off. It will then drip a bit with the shaft turning. Trying to adjust it with the engine running is a really, really bad idea with the close distance between the coupling with it's bolts and the stuffing box on most boats. Imagine your sleeve snagging in one of those bolts.

I use the GTO packing and just tighten it up as hard as I can turn the nut lying head down, on my back, working over my head by feel.

The GTO is forgiving enough to run without dripping but my engine moves around a lot so it usually starts dripping and slinging water around with in a week or two but I live with it because it's such a pain to adjust.

 

[kair]

It is not wise and unsafe to adjust the stuffing box with the engine running. You adjust it till it dows not drip or drips 1 drop per minute with the engine off. With the shaft running, it will then get you to the 2-3 drops .....

 

[Warren Milberg]

I've found that GFO packing material takes a bit of run time to wear in. Once you adjust the compression nut, with the engine off, until no drips occur, run the engine in gear (with the boat securely tied) and watch the gland for a drip rate. If it drips too much, shut the engine off and tighten the compression nut by one flat. Run the engine again and adjust as necessary. I probably used my engine for about 2 hours before I could get the right drip rate (which is none when the engine is not in gear, and perhaps 1 drop per minute or less while running in gear).

 

[Deadline]

My experience

Warren has it right. It takes time to do it by trial and error.

I have been easing up the nut to get the new GFO to drip, and yesterday the nut flew off entirely while powering in the middle of the York River. I had failed to tighten the thinner locking nut. The good news is that the bilge pump works swell.

Came upwind, got the prop to pause, and put it in reverse. Then went down and reset the nut. All is well.

 

[Witzend]

Some of the black graphite discolored the water with my GTO when new.

 

[sailingdog]

If you're using the newer GFO gore-tex packing, then you can adjust the packing so that the stuffing box barely drips with the engine stopped. When the engine is running, the drip rate should be minimal, but it should still DRIP. If it isn't dripping when the engine is running, you've likely tightened it too much.