Leaking stuffing boxes.

angus99 said:

Found a shot of our port stuffing box. Hard to see, but the aft fitting is bolted to the hull in four places. Other Defever owners have told me theirs are similarly built and have the same rough, unfinished appearance where attached to the boat.





I only had time for a short look at it partially disassembled while the mechanics were in there, but there does not appear to be anything attached to hose as you're describing and as I'm familiar with. The shaft appears to the naked eye to be significantly off-center . . . maybe up to 1/4" . . . where it passes through the bronze casting that's bolted to the hull. One mechanic said the packing was so tight on the constricted side he broke a tool trying to extract it. The boatyard will be taking measurements and discussing how best to modify it.

One possibility, strictly off the top of my head: one of the previous owners installed a Twin Disc to replace a Velvet Drive on the starboard side. That affects the engine/shaft geometry and requires motor mount adjustments. It will be interesting to see what the measurements say.

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My stuffing boxes are like the ones in the picture. They are really pretty good because they not only have the packing gland but there is also a cutlass bearing. The water supply tubing you see in the picture is for the cutlass bearing and to keep the packing wet. The shaft doesn't float at this point. Engine alignment is important.

I would run with it and resolve the issue when you get it home.

Sailor of Fortune said:

I would run with it and resolve the issue when you get it home.

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Thanks, all. That's what I'll do. I checked both stuffing boxes every couple of hours over the 200 miles or so from Palm Coast to Savannah and they never got beyond warm to the touch. Probably because of all that water running through them.

angus99 said:

Thanks, all. That's what I'll do. I checked both stuffing boxes every couple of hours over the 200 miles or so from Palm Coast to Savannah and they never got beyond warm to the touch. Probably because of all that water running through them.

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try a little of that mouldable stuffing I linked..available at West marines..maybe other places too....it may help till the whole setup is changed.

psneeld said:

try a little of that mouldable stuffing I linked..available at West marines..maybe other places too....it may help till the whole setup is changed.

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I'll ask the yard to do that, Scott.

Thanks again.

If she made it 200 miles she'll probably go the rest of the way. BUT. Alarm bells should be going off by now. Out of curiosity: did you notice what side the small space was on? top, bottom, port or Sbd? It matters, because top or bottom would relate to the reduction gear. sideways would indicate other than the gear.

Also, did both sides get a new gear? are both sides off center???

A shaft that is 1/4" out of the center is WAY off. Either the back end was torqued (most likely by the line in the wheel. OR (as some others have noted, the front end is thrown a motor mount, or the noted reduction gear replacement may not have been professionally lined up.

either way, no mention is made of 'the other side'. Didn't you say both sides leaked equally?

Just so you know, you can simply add packing as you squeeze the glands down (as necessary). The trick is, to not over compress the shaft gland so far down that ALL (or almost all) the packing is squished out. As long as about hallf the packing is in there, you can (with engine OFF!!!) remove the nuts, back out the gland and add another row (or 3) of packing. Yours will be tough to install, since you will have to pound a flat spot in one area, and rotate it and pound a high spot in another to make it slip around the shaft because of the lopsided ness.

But this certainly did NOT come from the factory lined up this way. Something has changed. Go on a hunt to find out what has moved, shifted or slipped.

Definitely vertical, not side-to-side misalignment. Dial indicator shows no damage to the shaft. Starboard was dripping the most and had been slinging water for a long time based on the degraded acoustic tiles nearby. (I had put "tents" over both SBs when I saw the water flying off them.) Also a chance I suppose that the water is from the supply tubes feeding the SBs and not from outside. Wish I'd thought to taste it. There is no evidence of damage to the motor mounts, although they may not have been sized properly to accommodate the Twin Disc replacing the Velvet Drive.

Anyway, the packing has been replaced and I'm moving the boat the week after next to the Chesapeake. It will be hauled again in the Fall and we'll get to the bottom of it. I'm guessing it was the transmission replacement on the starboard side, combined with ancient packing and a new and ignorant owner. But really, everything is still speculation at this point.