rudder shaft packing

[REBrueckner]

The real difficulty is ease of access to the rudder shaft nut...when you are lying on your stomach with arms extended, for example, you better be prepared to get wet and cold....I used to wipe extra water pump grease on the pre cut packing pieces,,,,the mix of greasy fingers and water splashing makes an easy job very messy and no as easy as you would imagine....

It IS unnerving to have all the water rushing in....I prefer to wait until hauled out....

The only advantage I found was that the inrushing water might help clean out the old packing particles....the downside is that with all that water coming in you can't see what's inside there with a flashlight....

[yachtsmanbill]

On mine there are two different styles of stuffing boxes. The shafts have a gland with a pusher collar and the rudders have a gland nut. The gland nuts' a bear to unpack, and since its not a rotating assembly, an added ring or two will really get you by, well for 5 or 10 years anyway.
Prop shaft packing is another story. Theres a happy medium between not leaking and burning the packing which is cured by lubrication... water. A FINER LINE.
The whole trick is to get them packed, squeeze them, and then release, finally adjusting them until the water stops. I ALWAYS use never sieze as the initial lube on the BTW.
Rudders OTOH, can be run bone dry, as long as the gland isnt so tight that it locks the system up. MINE DO NOT LEAK, and for that matter, my shafts give me a drip every 10 seconds underway and are dry at the dock. Ive probably installed 10 miles of packing in 40 years and will not use that GORE crap either. So now on to the topic at hand...
If you are gonna ad packing in the water, or repack for that matter, the trick is to be ready. Both my rudders and shaft are 2 inch dia. I take the packing and wrap a spare stub shaft as tight as possible, like with two hands wringing the packing. When its as tight as possible, take a utility knife and score the stuff across all the rings. MAGIC! You now have it accurately marked. Remove it and cut it on the scores with a sharp knife.
If its a 1050F 2500 psi boiler feed pump, you can cut the ends on a baloney slice, but thats really not necessary here. Take a ball peine hammer and barely flatten the stuff to ease its entry into the gland. I start both ends in together and then slide the remainder of the ring in to follow. You want the ends to mate up. Stagger the ends by 180 degrees. With 2-3 rings in, squeeze it down, release, and add more as necessary. ADD never sieze as needed to keep it juicy.
After its all repacked, loosen it so that the gland nut is started by a thred, of the gland follower is engaged squarely. The other trick here is to snug it until the leak is controlled. After a few runs, monitor it so that its leaking like you want it to. Simple
Like I said, be prepared before you start. When you are removing the old stuff and get jagoffs cramp from the puller, take a chunk of DUCT putty, or plumbers putty, roll it between your hands and squish it in place to slow down the leakage while you have a smoke. DO NOT PANICK, Just be a good boy scout and be prepared. Now its time for breakfast. ws


packing hooks


note bubba had two different types installed


before starting


WIRE brush the stuff as you go. Theres no reason why it shouldnt be able to be assembled by hand before you do the final tightening with a wrench!

[Boatnut]

Hey Willy,

Great directions for packing the boxes, thanks for taking the time to send out a great post.

[yachtsmanbill]

No problem Bn...I can just imagine how fearless (read naive) some of these guys are if they can take the boat out into harms way yet are too intimidated to do maintenance stuff like this.
A few years ago I had to ad a few rings to a tugboat with a 4-1/2" shaft with six nuts around the ring for adjustment. It hadnt been touched for 40 years and that shaft was probably 10 feet deep in the water. ws

[Avenger]

I may be stating the obvious or the uneccesary here since Hatts should have rudder shelves and upper support collars, but remember to make sure that there is something holding the rudder up when you take all this stuff apart.

[yachtsmanbill]

Like the drive arm and tie rods?? Isnt there a thrust collar up there too? I never paid attention. ws



zincage on the shaftage



linkage above the zincage



steerage linkage

[yachtsmanbill]

I dont know if that first pic is a zinc or a coupler. This shows one thats long, but not split??? ws



The shelf is about shoulder height so there is an extension to the rudder stems...



well the wood looks good anyway!

[jim rosenthal]

The little spiral hooks break,and sometimes the hooks break off inside there. Last time I did this, I used a dental pick, which is less likely to break. What's wrong with the Gore packing material? I haven't had any trouble with it. (it's on the rudders, the shafts have PSS logs on my boat)

[yachtsmanbill]

I dunno Jim... the japs always have to re-invent the wheel. I used the stuff years ago on my Roamer, and without a blocker washer or ring of conventional stuff at the bottom it merely extruded itself out the bottom of the box. I ended up repacking with conventional after 500 miles into a 2000 mile trip.
You cant buy these hooks at walmart BTW... these are made by/for John Crane and weve used comalongs and big hooks to pull tough packing out of boiler equipment. The dental hooks are OK for for small valves and such and for feeling the bottom of the box to make sure the residue is all gone.
I know one of the expurts here can get his head and a light in there to visually inspect it, but thats not always the case either! Some times its all by feel. ws

[James37]

Thanks for all of your input, I'm going for it. I'll let you all know how it ends.
Jim