dripless seals

[Kathy L]

Has anyone had any experience with dripless sahft and rudder seals on series one 36c? If so do you know the diameter of the logs.Thanks, John.

[Akyla]

John,
I have PSS seals and they are great. Been running them for 5 seasons without any issues and they perform like new. Just have them on the shafts and dont see too much need for them on the rudder posts as I usually get no drips or weeps from the rudders. But my packing is reasonably new.

My shaft log tubes were 2 5/8 with 1 1/2 shafts. Yours my be different - easy to measure...

[Kathy L]

Got side tracked posted it twice! Rudder posts are running quite a bit. I thought as long as someone (not me) was getting in there to re-pack it may be a good idea to change them.

[Genesis]

Installing them requires dropping the rudders. This is not a trivial operation and cannot be done in the water for obvious reasons.

I'd just repack those with the GFO packing. You'll never have to screw with it again.

Now for mains, I have mixed feelings about the PSS systems and similar things. They're expensive and IF they fail they don't leak a bit, they let huge amounts of water into the boat and CAN sink you. On the other hand they give you a completely dry bilge when operating properly.

Mixed bag, IMHO. I have a nearly-dry bilge with the GFO packing in a conventional stuffing box.

[hatt46]

Does anyone know the proper size GFO packing size for a 46 Hatt with 2" shafts? Boat is in N.C. and I am not. I am unable to measure for myself. Thanks

[Kathy L]

A dry bilge is what I'm shooting for. I had the boxes repacked last June when we did the bottom, could be they didn't do it right. We moved up our re-power date to NOW, and figured I'll try and get every thing done.

[Nonchalant1]

Does anyone know the proper size GFO packing size for a 46 Hatt with 2" shafts? Boat is in N.C. and I am not. I am unable to measure for myself. Thanks

I just measured for shaft seals on my 53MY with 2 in shafts (measured the distance from the shaft to the larger collar). It takes 1/2 in packing. Genesis also has 2 in shafts said his uses 1/2 in packing. I have the "double stud" type glands composed of two collars adjusted with nuts on the two studs.

Doug

[SKYCHENEY]

When I bought my 53 it had dripless seals. This is my first experience with these. Do they require any type of maintenance? How do you check them for wear, etc. or are they supposed to last forever? And, if failure is possible like Karl stated, then how do you recognize it before it happens?

[Genesis]

Make sure the water tube that feeds them cooling water is unobstructed and delivers water.

Inspect on a regular schedule to insure that there is no checking on the bellows or other deterioration.

That's basically all you can do.... oh, and keep some rags and such handy - just in case!

[Banshee36]

I have had my Dripless stuffing boxes for 4 seasons! They are awesome. I will have to check the name as I do not remeber off the top of my head. I have a 1970 36c that I re-powered in 2001. One thing that was brought to my attention was that you need to connect the water hook ups from both engines to both dripless stuffing boxes to keep them lubricated if you troll with one engine or lose and engine.
JW