[C38] Stuffing the Stuffing Box

tdtron at earthlink.net tdtron at earthlink.net
Tue May 10 09:46:08 EDT 2011


Hello David,

It's been years since I repacked our stuffing box and hopefully someone
else can elucidate on my reply but until then, I am going to try to relay
what I can remember about repacking a stuffing box.

The stuffing box has a large nut that compresses the stuffing material. 
You will need a large pair of either pipe wrenches or home made wrenches to
work the nut and also hold the bellows end of the stuffing box so you don't
rip the bellows.

Once you get the nut unscrewed, move it forward toward the flex coupling
and you should then be able to remove and replace the stuffing material.  I
don't remember what stuffing size our boats take but I used the Gortex type
stuffing which makes for an almost drip proof stuffing without the
liability of the dripless type stuffing boxes that can fail. Maybe someone
else has the brand name and size our stuffing boxes use.  I bought my
Gortex type stuffing material at a boat show and have loved it ever since. 
There is almost no drip but unlike the true dripless designs, a Gortex
upgrade can be performed on existing equipment without having to remove the
shaft.  I replaced my stuffing material while sitting at the dock.  The
water that came in from the cutlass bearing wasn't enough to bother me
although I admit I didn't go to lunch until the project was finished.

Since the Gortex type stuffing material is only an upgrade to the original
type material, it is still water lubricated but since it still leaks
slightly, you don't need to "burp" the stuffing box like you do with true
dripless type seals.  There is no comparison to the Gortex upgrade as to
the true dripless conversions.

Regardless of the type stuffing material you use, and I can't speak highly
enough of the Gortex type, the installation procedure is the same.

Wrap an exposed portion of the shaft with the new material and with a knife
mark where the material makes a complete loop.  Cut the material about
1/16" too long so it will slightly compress when installed.  I think my
stuffing box took three pieces of material.

Place the three pieces of material around the shaft at 120 degree intervals
so each break is a third of the way around from any other break.  Slide the
nut back on the stuffing box and carefully tighten the nut while holding
the stuffing box with another wrench.

Tighten the nut until there is only a small trickle of water leaking from
the seal.

Crank the engine and let it run for a few minutes, stop the engine and
adjust the packing nut again until the drip is about one drip per 5 seconds.

After you use the engine for at least 20 minutes, adjust the Gortex type
seal again to reduce drip after the seal has broken in.  The directions
supplied with the packing material will give better information than my CRS
memory but once the new packing is broken in, you should have almost no
water drip after final break in adjustment.

The only thing different about packing the new Gortex type seal and
conventional material is the amount of water needed for shaft lubrication. 
The Gortex material is self lubricating to a degree and requires less water
so your bilge will stay dryer from less drip.

Hopefully someone else can add more or correct any mistakes I have made
from my aging memory.

Tom Troncalli
 


> [Original Message]
> From: <david at dlrfilms.com>
> To: Catalina 38 Listserve <listserve at catalina38.org>
> Date: 5/10/2011 8:24:44 AM
> Subject: [C38] Stuffing the Stuffing Box
>
> When I first bought INTEMPERANCE we had her haul for a survey and took the
> opportunity to do some out of the water work on her, including repacking
> the stuffing box.
>
> Unfortunately that was 3 1/2 years ago, and I cant really remember what we
> did, except for cutting piece of waxy string.
>
> Does the prop shaft need to come out or be detatched? I have one of those
> red plastic "drive-saver" thingies. it doesn't look like it will be too
> much trouble to get it all apart.
>
> Help?
>
>
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