[C320-list] Good stuffing box trick

[Jack Brennan]

Here’s a good stuffing box trick I learned recently from the diesel guru at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, Fl..

I hired him to help me change the packing, seeing as the 320 is the first sailboat I’ve owned in which I could actually access the stuffing box with my 215-pound body.

We used the Goretex packing. What he did was dip the packing liberally into a jar of waterproof axle grease before inserting it into the nut. What a difference. The shaft turned more easily and, just as important, six weeks and many hours later, I get a drip or two a minute. The stuffing box is cool to the touch after a good motoring.

It’s very possible that the boat yard just did a lousy job when it replaced the packing a couple of years ago. I always had too many drips, and re-adjustments would last only a short time before I had to tinker with it again. But still …

Also, for the record, my stuffing box took 3/16, not quarter-inch, packing. The water leak was easily handled by my 800-gph bilge pump. If you’re worried about it, an old bicycle tube can be wrapped around the shaft to slow the leak to a dribble.

Hopefully, I won’t have to do it again for several years, but it is now a DIY project.

Jack Brennan
Sonas, 1998 Catalina 320
Tierra Verde, Fl.






Sent from Mail for Windows

[Joe Grande]

Thanks for sharing Jack! I too, use the 3/16” Gortex. The addition of axle grease is a new trick. I imagine that winch grease should work as well.

Thank you,
Joe Grande #772, S/V Whisper 2003
Marina: WESTLAKE LANDING
2046 Westlake Ave N, Slip 34
Mail: 2132 Westlake Ave N, PMB 103
Seattle, WA 98109-2404
Phone: 206.940.1231


________________________________
From: C320-list <c320-lis...@lists.catalina320.com> on behalf of Jack Brennan <jackb...@bellsouth.net>
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2022 5:55:05 PM
To: C320...@Catalina320.com <C320...@Catalina320.com>
Subject: [C320-list] Good stuffing box trick

[KEN GEIGER]

I just repacked my stuffing box with 3 rings of 1/4" Gortex.  Pretty easy with a pusher I made from a 1 inch ID steel tube..  But now we are launched and no drips but a warm to hot packing gland on a short run to dock.  I may have over tightened initially.  Nut backed off and now engaged about 2 turns.
Any guidance to avoid/reduce overheating of gland.  What would be a maximum operating temperature?  1 inch Brass shaft, fresh water lake.
Thanks
Ken Geiger on Northern Dream#765     2000

Sent from the all-new AOL app for Android

On Sat., 21 May 2022 at 21:29, Joe Grande<joe_g...@msn.com> wrote: Thanks for sharing Jack! I too, use the 3/16” Gortex. The addition of axle grease is a new trick. I imagine that winch grease should work as well.

[Scott Thompson]

You should be able to put your hand on the stuffing box comfortably,
even after a long period of running. Warm is OK. Hot is not.

I was working on my stuffing box yesterday. The GFO instructions say to
only make it snug at first, then tighten to no drips after several hours
of operation. You may have a good bit of water come through during that
initial run-in period.

BTW, they also warn to NOT use other lubricants (e.g. axle grease, winch
grease, etc.).

I'm curious how your "pusher" works since I see no way to put a pipe
around the shaft without major disassembly. I pushed mine in by just
snugging the packing nut up against the box and tapping gently with a
hammer until the packing was in far enough for the threads on the nut to
catch.

Scott

[KEN GEIGER]

Sent from the all-new AOL app for Android

On Sun., 22 May 2022 at 13:25, KEN GEIGER<ken...@aol.com> wrote:

Thanks Scott.  I fear I over tightened it initially, thereby compressing the packing too much.  That is the situation I think I need to recover from while in the water.  If I take the nut off now, and I have, there is,  as expected, an inflow of water.  I think, with nut loose,  if I try to loosen the packing I will not then get the nut back on.  What if I try to push a wire or needle along the shaft to make a water passage to live with for a while of running and then carefully,  this time, tighten the nut??
As to the pusher.  Saw something on google or YouTube with plastic pipe.  I took a piece of 4 in. long steel tube, 1 in. ID, and cut in half longitudinally.  Slotted one end , 2 places and bent up 3 tines to push on.

Ideas please about the packing too right.
Ken

Sent from the all-new AOL app for Android

On Sun., 22 May 2022 at 12:49, Scott Thompson<surp...@thompson87.com> wrote: You should be able to put your hand on the stuffing box comfortably,

[Jack Brennan]

Well, so far so good on the waterproof axle grease in the stuffing box. I probably have 20 hours on it with no problems at all.

The diesel guy I hired has been doing it this way for maybe 15 years as he services cruising boats in Boot Key Harbor on their way to the Bahamas and the Caribbean, so I suspect he has had enough feedback to know whether his particular methods works.

I also suspect the grease warning has something to do with the possibility of people using the wrong type of grease. Waterproof axle grease is thin and made for the wheels on boat trailers, which is different from say the thick grease used in other applications.

There’s actually a long tradition of greasing stuffing boxes. Particularly in Britain, many stuffing boxes used to have grease nipples on them.

I’ll see, I guess.

Jack Brennan
Sonas, 1998 Catalina 320
Tierra Verde, Fl.



Sent from Mail for Windows