I am planning to do some maintenance on my stuffing box but before I do, I woould like to undesrtand the internal design of my box. Does anyone have experience with a box like mine (see picture) Thanks
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Standard box
1. Haul the boat, don't do this in the water. 2. Unscrew the box and pick out old flax. 3. If very solid, may need to drill it. 4. Be sure to use the right flax to replace the old stuff. I was using 3/16 at recommendation of someone on this site for a 1-inch shaft, but it leaked all season and was correctly replaced with 1/4 inch.
1. Haul the boat, don't do this in the water. 2. Unscrew the box and pick out old flax. 3. If very solid, may need to drill it. 4. Be sure to use the right flax to replace the old stuff. I was using 3/16 at recommendation of someone on this site for a 1-inch shaft, but it leaked all season and was correctly replaced with 1/4 inch.
The bigger nut will screw off of the smaller one. You will need big channel locks or pipe wrenches to accomplish this. Inside the larger nut there is stuffing material, you will need to pull out and replace. There should be 3 or 4 rings of material, you will need a small pointed object to get in there and pull them out. There are tools made for this job. Then replace with new stuffing box material. I love the new GFO stuff box material. Cut 3 rings of it the size of your prop shaft replace in the stuffing box at 90 degrees to each cut. Tighten up until just over hand tight. When the boat goes back in the water be below and tighten until you get about 3 drops a minute of water. Go for a ride and adjust again. The gortex GFO can be adjusted to 0 drips. Check the link below.
what about grease?
Chuck As you can see on the picture, there is a bolt which I presume is for grease. Should I expect some kind of copper fitting inside? Is grease required here?
Chuck As you can see on the picture, there is a bolt which I presume is for grease. Should I expect some kind of copper fitting inside? Is grease required here?
On the side of caution.
Bert: Bill is preaching on the side of caution here. If you must pay for the boat to be hauled to repack the stuffing box, you are better off having a pro restuff the box for you. Even a quick haul is more than the cost of having the yard do it in the water. I must agree that I would not be comfortable doing it in the water either.
Bert: Bill is preaching on the side of caution here. If you must pay for the boat to be hauled to repack the stuffing box, you are better off having a pro restuff the box for you. Even a quick haul is more than the cost of having the yard do it in the water. I must agree that I would not be comfortable doing it in the water either.
no grease
the bolt is NOT for grease,you will not need do do anything with that bolt, repacking the male/female nuts that are located forward on the shaft,the first nut unthreads and the packing is insde the second nut. West Marine (as well as most marines stores) sells a cork screw decice to pull the old packing out makes the job much simpler.Job is straight forward take apart/remove/replace/reassemble.Your aprehension is understandable, not that difficult. You might want to thing about using the "dripless" gore packing or even replacing the stuffing box with a pss shaft seal. Anyway Good Luck !
the bolt is NOT for grease,you will not need do do anything with that bolt, repacking the male/female nuts that are located forward on the shaft,the first nut unthreads and the packing is insde the second nut. West Marine (as well as most marines stores) sells a cork screw decice to pull the old packing out makes the job much simpler.Job is straight forward take apart/remove/replace/reassemble.Your aprehension is understandable, not that difficult. You might want to thing about using the "dripless" gore packing or even replacing the stuffing box with a pss shaft seal. Anyway Good Luck !
Or you can replace the whole shootin' match...
With a PSS Dripless Packing. Link below to my web page with picture of PSS installed in my boat. Cheers, Bob
With a PSS Dripless Packing. Link below to my web page with picture of PSS installed in my boat. Cheers, Bob
Packing box
I would follow Bill's advice and recondition when you are out of the water. That bolt is for a grease fitting or water lubrication. These systems are used on power boats but when applied to sail they are usually blocked as yours is because the sailboat will not generate enough shaft revolutions to require the lubrication. I would also recommend the dripless packing. I had two types of dripless stuffing boxes in the past and they were eventually such problems that I went back to the traditional box with dripless packing. A lot less expensive too. If the boat is hauled while you are doing this I would recommend replacing the stern tube hose and the four clamps.
I would follow Bill's advice and recondition when you are out of the water. That bolt is for a grease fitting or water lubrication. These systems are used on power boats but when applied to sail they are usually blocked as yours is because the sailboat will not generate enough shaft revolutions to require the lubrication. I would also recommend the dripless packing. I had two types of dripless stuffing boxes in the past and they were eventually such problems that I went back to the traditional box with dripless packing. A lot less expensive too. If the boat is hauled while you are doing this I would recommend replacing the stern tube hose and the four clamps.
Trial run first
I have a Hunter 290, with a leaking stuffing box. After reading all that I could on HOW, I was ready. I purchased 2 wrenches, a Vise Grips model 12LC and a Sears Lock Wrench. I applied Liquid Wrench to the packing and hex nut, loosened the hex nut, tightened the packing nut and stopped the leak. But I wanted to go further and change the flax. I removed the packing nut to experience how much water would enter my boat...it was less than a gallon over 30 minutes. I enlisted the help of a friend and his heavy duty dental-type pick and in 45 minutes it was changed. The bige pump never kicked on. The link from a previous HOW article was very helpful.
I have a Hunter 290, with a leaking stuffing box. After reading all that I could on HOW, I was ready. I purchased 2 wrenches, a Vise Grips model 12LC and a Sears Lock Wrench. I applied Liquid Wrench to the packing and hex nut, loosened the hex nut, tightened the packing nut and stopped the leak. But I wanted to go further and change the flax. I removed the packing nut to experience how much water would enter my boat...it was less than a gallon over 30 minutes. I enlisted the help of a friend and his heavy duty dental-type pick and in 45 minutes it was changed. The bige pump never kicked on. The link from a previous HOW article was very helpful.
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