Stuffing box splatter

[TN]

I had a yard repack the stuffing box in my boat for the first time. I had them repack it with the gore-tex material, which apparently is black. I was present when they adjusted the packing nut with the boat in the water, and we ran it in forward a while without the nut getting warm. After 1.5 hours running the boat at cruising speed, I checked on it and discovered an oval splatter pattern below the packing nut. The nut was not warm. When I checked in with the yard about the splatter pattern, the first person I talked to said it was not expected, but the next person I talked to at the yard indicated it was expected. I don't remember reading about this as an expected side effect before I decided to have it done. If you have used this sort of packing, did this happen to you?

 

[Ross]

My bet is that it is a mix of water and fresh

material from the new packing. Clean it up and see if it comes back. Also watch the drip rate.

 

[Miles]

Not quite that much

When I repacked the box with Goretex stuffing I did get a little bit of that black dust you show in the picture. Maybe about half that much? I haven't had any other issues with it and the dust stopped after the first time. After a few hours of running you may need to tighten the box a bit if it drips.It probably just needs to settle in a bit but keep an eye on it. It could be the shaft is scored and is chewing up the packing, it shouldn't continue to do that for very long.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Uh, YOU need to learn how to do it yourself

It's pretty easy and well documented. It's also a safety issue.

 

[Tom S]

I got the same thing when I first put Gore PTFE on

While its getting settled in the first time it will ahve a bit of water mixed in and while its running it might spray a little of that greyish-black splatter. I think its fairly normal, but yours was probably a more perfect circle pattern than mine.After running it a few hours you can tighten the packing nut just a bit more where it just stops allowing any water while its running.As a clean up you can try a very strong detergent to get that greyish-black splatter off, don't let it stay on too long as it kind of stayed as a stain in the bilge paint. You can always repaint that area of the bilge if its bothers you too much

 

[TN]

thanks for the info

Thanks gentlemen, for the info.