Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
Regular packing glands should drip a little while underway. I built little boxes under my shaft stuffing with their own little bilge pumps. Works fantastic. I now just have a little bit of water in the boxes but the rest of the bilge stays dry.
Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
Conventional shaft logs should barely drip when just sitting, maybe a few drops a minute or so so it should not add up to inches of water. You can measure the volume but putting a plastic box under the shaft logs and see how quickly they fill
Water usually comes from a number of sources including cleaning strainers, air con condensation etc.
Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
I like the idea of a separate collection box.
I think I'm getting more like a drip a second, so I need to tighten it up and see what happens.
Thanks for the input!
Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
I have the dripless shafts and my bilge has dust in it because it’s so dry. Not bragging. A little pricey but worth every non- drop.
Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
Our Bertie, the shaft logs drip a bit while operating. What they do pass lands in a small sump in the engine room keel sump. 1/4" PTFE Flax.
Now the rudders, after 44 years, are always leaking.
In the middle of a promising red-neck experiment that I will post in a few more week.
Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
I recently pulled out all of my shafts conventional packing and replaced it with the Dura Max Ultra X. I put everything back together as loose as possible. The directions say to let them drip for several hours of operation before tightening them up. I haven't done that yet and my bilge is already dry after a a day or two of sitting. I will know more about how it performs as the weather warms up.
Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
How much $ are the drippless shaft seals?
Is there a brand that can NOT catastrophically fail and sink your boat?
Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
I personal know of 2 boats that have sunk do to improperly installed PSS shaft seals. Having said that if the PSS seals are properly installed I think they are great. Tides also makes a good seal system that uses a lip seal.
Re: Shaft seals, dry bilge?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Scarlett
I personal know of 2 boats that have sunk do to improperly installed PSS shaft seals. Having said that if the PSS seals are properly installed I think they are great. Tides also makes a good seal system that uses a lip seal.
That sure makes them sound risky!
I'm guessing stay with the regular packing, just curious what they cost.
I'm also assuming you have to pull shafts to install the dripless, which is not something on my radar to do.