When you open your boat and hear water running, is it a bad

[Juice6576]

So we had a hell of a lot of rain this weekend, so I went down to check out my new Zarcor comp anionway doors and see if they leaked. No evidence of door leaks...that was the good news.

I noticed my dessicant buckets seemed to have absorbed a lot of water so I lifted a section of cabin sole...about 4 inches of water, almost above the lower bilge pump. I started the bilge pump and pumped the bilge down. I could hear water running and found the shaft packing gland nut backed out all the way. I can only assume its been that way since we went sailing a week ago Sunday.

This is the third time this has happened since the boat was new a year ago. I didn't have a problem for the last half of the summer and thought I had the problem licked. If we had lost power or the bilge pump filed, I could have lost the boat. Any suggestions to keep the gland nut from working loose?

 

[FastOlson]

The packing gland nut has an equal sized jam nut. Is the jam nut loose or missing on yours?

L

 

[kloudie1]

Re: When you open your boat and hear water running, is it a

Unless the boat has a nylon (or torlon?) packing gland.. then it needs the cotter to lock it...
read this recent post/thread
http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=916508&highlight=nylon packing gland

 

[Bill Roosa]

Re: When you open your boat and hear water running, is it a

Ditto fastolson
a judicious application of elbow grease to the jam nut sound in order.
BTW, you will not find elbow grease at WM or any of the other marine outfitters. You will probably have to hire a specialist or make some your self. I find the "boy" to be an excellent source of elbow grease.

 

[Scott B]

Re: When you open your boat and hear water running, is it a

Your locking nut is not tight enough. It looks like the one in these pictures, he also shows how to properly tighten. From Maine Sail's PBase site

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box

 

[jtm]

Re: When you open your boat and hear water running, is it a

While your packing nut may not be tight enough, I wonder if the engine alignment is off and a co-conspirator assisting in the backing out of the packing nut/cup. You might want to insert a bilge alarm so that whenever your bilge pump kicks in you can hear a beeping sound- if it happens too often or too long - you'll know you have a problem before you have water sloshing on the sole.

I installed a bilge alarm decades ago after reading a story in Sail magazine about a pacific sailor who had some boat work done in the south pacific, was several days out and suddenly found water sloshing on his sole- the shaft had partially slid out the shaft log.

This bilge alarm saved me a lot of grief last summer when i had just left the marina - I heard continuous beeping and quickly found that the hose on the "engine side" of the water pump ( I had recently rebuilt the pump) blew off the pump's nipple. I was pumping water into the engine box! A quick reattachment and we were good to continue on without much bilging.

 

[Benny17441]

Re: When you open your boat and hear water running, is it a

You need two wrenches to tighten the jam nut and the gland nut tightly against each other.

 

[Juice6576]

Good advice-I've done all of it

Thanks for the advice. I actually did use a 12 inch pipe wrnech and the adjustable spanner shown in the pictures. Believe it or not, I actually do have some mechanical experience. I wonder if it is temperature related as the problem has only happened in the spring. I am going to try lockwiring the adjusting nut to the bolt for the cutlass bearing so that it cant work loose.

 

[Scott B]

Thanks for the advice. I actually did use a 12 inch pipe wrnech and the adjustable spanner shown in the pictures. Believe it or not, I actually do have some mechanical experience. I wonder if it is temperature related as the problem has only happened in the spring. I am going to try lockwiring the adjusting nut to the bolt for the cutlass bearing so that it cant work loose.

I've never had this type of problem in 6 Spring seasons now, same environment as you, same boat and I'm assuming same installation. Maybe one of the nuts is not smooth and you're not getting a soild "lock" when you tighten? dunno, just guessing now. Can't understand why just one boat would have this problem.

 

[Juice6576]

Re: When you open your boat and hear water running, is it a

We'll Im going to crank on it again. Maybe I'm just not cranking on it enough. I'm still going to safety wire it too. Until i'm sure its going to be secure, I'll leave the aft cabin bunk stacked for quick access. I work in nuclear power and I know we never rely too much on jam nuts as it is inevitable that they'll vibrate loose.