Stuffing Box Leak

[Mike Gall]

I just put my 2009 Hunter 33 back in the water after dry storage for the winter, and I have sprung a drip leak from the stuffing box on the propeller shaft. It appears to be dripping from the bottom of the bronze stuffing box, rather than from the hose connection. It sounds like the answer is a replacement stuffing box, which means out of the water and pull the shaft. Does anyone have a suggestion for a temporary fix?

Mike Gall

 

[Herman18887]

It could be that all you need to do is tighten the packing nut. Check out http://www.boatus.com/boattech/Casey/StuffingBox.htm and http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box. The 2nd one has great photos. Also, there are lots of posts on this forum.
Herman

 

[Warren Milberg]

While I agree with Herman that you may only need to tighten the compression nut on your stuffing box a bit, I would also check the underside of the rubber hose part of the gland that attaches to the shaft log. It is not uncommon for the rubber part of the gland to develop pin hole leaks over time. Feel for leaks under the rubber hose or use an articulated mirror with a flash light.

 

[Juice6576]

It is likely that the packing dried out over the winter. Check the rubber house to make sure it's not cracked, but it is likely that the packing may need to swell back up and seal.

 

[Steve Dion]

Mike:

I would try tightening up the gland first. If that does not take care of the problem chances are you just need a repacking. No need to pull the boat, it can easily be done in the water.

Get the correct sized packing and cut 3 rings. Pick out all of the old packing, push the rings in one at a time and retighten the nut. The water flow will slow down as soon as the first ring is in place.

If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself, have the yard do it for you. Be sure you are there when they do it so you can do it yourself then next time.

Be sure to do the inspection as Warren mentions. I doubt that this is the problem on such a new boat, but stuff happens.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Ditto the packing gland needs some maintenance.
You can do this in the water. the amount of water comming in is not more than a bilge pump can handle. even if you don't have a bilge pump if you get organized and don't take all day to do it I doubt it would fill a 33' ers bilge and you could hand pump it out after. I'd be comfortabel with leaving it over night with no packing if I was on shore power and had a good working bilge pump.
FWIW