Stuffing box- Dripless or not??

Jared1048 · Jun 21, 2013

IanJ said:
I have to ask this, diverting from a similar thread that I have been following. How do you tell if a stuffing box is dripless or not? I have had my H31 for about four years, and on windless days, invariably motor out to Catalina at about 2200rpm, which is about five hours away. Unlike my last Ericson, this box has never leaked a drop, and the previous owner said he never adjusted it, so I assumed it was a dripless one. Now I am beginning to wonder. I can loosen the nuts to make it drip, but wondering why it never did in the past. Have I been incredibly lucky??
Picture below, if anyone can chime in here.

I have a h31 and replaced my entire stuffing box when I had the shaft out to be balanced. I can tell you that you have the normal "drip" stuffing box. Though I have heard that you can get different packing that don't drip but my experience was that it still needs to drip so that it didn't run so hot you could cook an egg on it.

I would first test to see how hot it runs. After running the prop for 10 minutes feel the shaft\big nut and see if you can hold your hand in it for as long as you want. If you cant then it needs to be adjusted to let water drip through it to cool it down.

Follow this to help http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box

Good luck!
-Jared

Steve Dion · Jun 21, 2013

This is what a dripless from PSS looks like. If you have a bronze stuffing box, it is not of the dripless type.

http://www.deepblueyachtsupply.com/catalog/dripless-shaft-seals?gclid=CL6KgK6O9rcCFe9xQgod7XgATw

Stuffing box- Dripless or not??

IanJ

.

Attachments

Jared1048

.

Steve Dion

.

IanJ

.