Prop shaft stuffing box

[typhoontye]

Hello all,

I need a pretty quick answer on this one, as I’m leaving the country (not on my boat) on Wednesday and the prop shaft stuffing box is leaking badly. The background is, we put the boat in the water today (Monday) after 30 days on the hard, motored over to the club, where we keep Blue Moon, and noticed a steady stream of water emanating from the stuffing box. Anyone know what size/type packing to use? My setup looks pretty factory…no fancy aftermarket stuffing box.

In other news, the boat looks great with her new Awlcraft paint and bottom work. The new Flex o fold prop seems at first blush to be the correct size, and the boat is performing very well in ‘forward’. GPS speed and through the water speed appears to be much improved (when powering) over the previous fixed pitch 20X13. The flex o fold is an 18X11. I do have much more ‘P’ factor. The boat wants to pull pretty hard to starboard when at cruise power, necessitating a fair bit of counteracting rudder angle. Performance in reverse appears to be more ‘straight’ (less prop walk), but much less authority than with the fixed pitch. Gotta’ give it more throttle but I suppose I’ll get used to it.

Any help on the stuffing box packing size is appreciated…

David Tye

[kalinowski]

I had the same leak problem and had other commitments that to be dealt with.  I used emergency rescue tape from West to seal up the leak till I could deal with it.  It worked great.

[madsailor]

Also, you may have room to tighten the packing.

[madsailor]

Should be 3/16″. Use teflon impregnsted packing. Get 2 packages from West Marine.

Bob

[RichCarter]

David

Get two sets of adjustable slip lock nut wrenches, available at most home goods stores.  Use these to tighten your packing gland.

 

It’s normal for the boat to pull hard to one side when under power.  I honestly don’t remember which way it pulls.  At low power settings, less than 6kts, I don’t notice it.  Under moderate power, up to about 7kts or so, the pull is noticeable but the autopilot handles it with no problem.  At high-power however the autopilot can’t handle the helm.   There is little gain in running the boat at high power settings however since little is gained in speed yet fuel consumption goes up dramatically.

 

Rich

 

[typhoontye]

Thanks guys for the advice.  I tried the  rescue tape with no success, I think primarily because it was a wet and oily mess around the stuffing box.  I’m sure the product works great with no oil present, but sadly, my old Westerbeke is a bit of a leaker.  In any case, the longer it sits, the less severe the leak becomes, and the bilge pump and float switch are working well.  And I have a friend checking on it every day or two.  So I should be fine till I can get back and re-pack. Thanks again…

 

David

 

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