Dripless rudder seal

Correct, my bad for saying post. As an aside, a rudder bushing full of water proof grease doesnt need to "purge", just put more grease in about once a year. I have seen grease fittings in prop shaft bushings on slow speed boats. My trawler has them, my sporty doesnt as its water injected.

sunchaser said:

My two cents question isn't does anybody use grease to help keep rudder related things lubricated, I know they do. It is more geared towards is this an acceptable substitute for fixing a weepy rudder shaft

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It is not intended to be a permanent fix, though it can help stop a leak, especially when the rudder shaft is stationary.
ALL the old boats I have been on had this feature, many with a plate that encouraged daily service.
These boats hailed from a day when flax packing was designed to leak, and machining tolerances were not controlled with computer accuracy, thus many parts of any machine did not fit extremely well, and rattled about a bit.
If installed at the outset, and diligently maintained, it can extend the life of the system substantially by reducing wear and preventing accumulation of marine growth and preventing corrosion on the surfaces.

This being a rudder fix with minimal movement and tittle to no heat concerns, you would have to believe that grease would by far be preferable to salt water. Be it a stuffing box or a dripless bearing. The grease would not only provide lubrication to the stuffing material or bearing/seal, its high viscosity will act as a stop to the water. Is that not the reason modern flax products are saturated with teflon or whatever there using these days.

Agreed If there are other issues i.e. bad bushings or scored shaft it is not the cure all but even in those cases it could buy you time to fix it right.

Anyway,,, thank you all great conversation, I have learned a lot here.