Dripless Shaft seals

[jrmccoy]

Gents I’m budgeting for a haul out during which time I’d like to install dripless seals so I can get bilges like Robert Clarkston...Could anyone provide guidance on rough cut how many boat bucks that may require for installation on a 53 my..and any consensus on best brand?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Gents I’m budgeting for a haul out during which time I’d like to install dripless seals so I can get bilges like Robert Clarkston...Could anyone provide guidance on rough cut how many boat bucks that may require for installation on a 53 my..and any consensus on best brand?

I have dripless on my boat, but I would not have spent the money to put them on had she not had them already. I trust the old fashioned stuffing boxes and you can get those to be almost dripless. I just don't know why anyone would want to make things more complicated. Now you have to worry about water supply to them, maintenance of the bellows, etc.

It sounds like you've made up your mind, but that's my 2 cents. I always worry about a failure underway that would be like having a big hole in the bottom of the boat.

 

[Fanfare]

There are two manufacturers of dripless seals, PSS and Tidesmarine. From comments on this forum both seem to be effective. You can search for these comments on the forum.

I had a problem with one shaft with the original conventional stuffing box which would not stay sealed. In 2005 I installed the Tidesmarine seals. Last I checked both Hatteras and Hargrave Yachts use these as standard. Their seals have to be installed over the end of the pulled shaft. You should add the keeper with two additional spare seals which can be used to replace the working one if it begins to leak. I probably do 100 to 300 hours per year but I have never had to change one. I do replace all of these if my shafts have to be pulled for cutless bearing replacement, just because everything is apart.

I have been pleased with how these have worked and recommend them.

 

[Pascal]

I put Tides on my 53 during the repower. I forgot the cost. If your shaft coupling comes off easily it s not a lot of labor

In the last 12 years or so I ve put about 6000 hours on two boats I ran with Tides. Never had an issue.

 

[SEVEN]

I love mine. My bilge is dusty dry.

 

[Dan Mapes]

There is also Lasdrop. I have had them as well as Tides. Tides would be my preference. Make sure they install an extra carrier etc.. Make sure they polish, not grind nor sand, the shafts to remove any roughness.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

A dry bilge is a clean bilge. A clean bilge is a happy bilge.

 

[krush]

Tides are a lip seal that rides on the shaft like an oil seal. It also seemed to be the most expensive when I was looking. I think LasDrop GenII is the best design. No belows and no silly set screw crap: http://www.lasdrop.com/gen_2.html

With that said, I just installed new packing boxes and went with Palmetto packing Gore packing....all my old fart friends talked me out of going mechanical seal (aka face seal).....hopefully I don't regret it!

 

[Dan Mapes]

And that is why the shafts have to be polished when you go with Tides. Ask me how I know. We had a set replaced and they started weeping when we were in the Northwest Providence Channel on the way home from the Berries.

We had the shafts polished and the problem was solved.

A subsequent shift to Lasdrop had other issues. I think given all of the maintenance on the shafts the fit was bit loose on the clamp/spring housing. The seal faces seized up over a rest at the dock. The shaft spun in the clamp and it melted. Good thing I was at the dock bumping the gears out of idle to spin the props a while in between outings. The mechanic came by looked it over and deemed it safe to move to the boat yard. Everyone made good on a replacement set.

The year we had the Tide's replaced the prop shop laid the shafts down on the alignment "bench" and used a heavy duty sander disk while rotating the shaft back and forth to clean them up. So if you go that route make sure you have an accurate shaft diameter measurement.

 

[wndsr]

I may get chastised for this comment. But here goes. I wanted the same thing as you many years ago when we purchased and restored our 53’. So I went ahead and installed PSS. I was more than happy with them until I realized that they require seal replacement approximately every 5 years or so. No problem I thought. But after seeing two other boats needing an emergency haul out because of premature failure , I really got concerned. I followed the recommendation of a friend and boatyard owner to go back to a conventional style, use cortex packing and add a water cooling spud just like a drip less style. I followed his recommendation and after seeing what is the difference between water gushing into your boat or not in the event of a failure , I will never go back to the drip less style. I now have the best of both worlds without the worry of a few dollar part failing and sinking my boat. You may even be able to have your current logs drilled and have a cooling spud added.

 

[Dan Mapes]

I may get chastised for this comment. But here goes. I wanted the same thing as you many years ago when we purchased and restored our 53’. So I went ahead and installed PSS. I was more than happy with them until I realized that they require seal replacement approximately every 5 years or so. No problem I thought. But after seeing two other boats needing an emergency haul out because of premature failure , I really got concerned. I followed the recommendation of a friend and boatyard owner to go back to a conventional style, use cortex packing and add a water cooling spud just like a drip less style. I followed his recommendation and after seeing what is the difference between water gushing into your boat or not in the event of a failure , I will never go back to the drip less style. I now have the best of both worlds without the worry of a few dollar part failing and sinking my boat. You may even be able to have your current logs drilled and have a cooling spud added.

I tried the water cooled packing glands and could not get the seal assembly warm, let alone cool to the touch at the dock in gear. I left them at Indiantown and ran with tides.

 

[Vincentc]

I can only speak to my experience with our 43 DC and 1.75” shafts. The boat had PSS dripless when I bought her in 2008. I hauled Lilly Marie in January and needed to pull the port shaft, so I elected to replace both PSS bellows. I bought the maintenance kits from “Deep Blue Sea” (I believe) for about $120 each. I believe that the whole kits were priced at a little over $400 each.

I paid a mechanic pull the port shaft, put it back in and install the maintenance kit. He also removed old and installed new cutlass bearings so I can’t say what he charged was representative of the cost of a installing dripless.

The mechanic was called to another more pressing job, and rather than wait, I did the stbd shat seal kit myself. Removing the coupling and replacing the bellows & seal probably took me about 4 hours work time. A good part of that was struggling to remove the shaft cotter pin. I would guess 5 hours for an experienced mechanic to install 2 dripless.

I appreciate the recommendation to replace bellows every 5 years, but the 12 plus yr old bellows looked to be like new. But for time spent removing the old stuffing box, the work to install a new dripless seal should be about the same.

I like dripless and would recommend to a friend