Thread: hot seals
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Old 04-29-2019, 09:51 PM   #20
tn6437
Veteran Member
 
City: cincinnati
Vessel Name: deja vu
Vessel Model: 1987 senator 35 sundeck
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 77
packing woes

hi all,
ok I bought my boat in march. drove it from just above ft. myers to Carrabelle. once docked I noticed the bilge running every 10 minutes or so. since this is my first inboard boat I am unfamiliar with packing stuffing boxes etc. the marina recommended martin marine, a local boat mechanic. he came by, checked the boat , said it needed stuffing after trying to tighten the nut. he did not have any with him. in retrospect, since this is a common , simple repair I guess I should have been suspicious. in any event, he packed it the following day, I headed out the next day to panama city. as soon as I anchored the bilge fired off. I checked and had a steady stream of water running. I tightened it a bit and had a regular drip. I had read and watched some posts so I felt comfortable I had it under control. headed out in the morning , that evening , same thing. tightened again but still flowing. day after day til I got to mobile bay where the mechanics checked it, said I had the wrong size packing, thanks, Martin Marine ( I would never use him again ) . anyway it stopped leaking, they used Teflon, told me to run it an hour so next day I headed north up through mobile. checked it in an hour, running water, tightened, it stopped so I continued my trip. that evening, anchored out, same darn thing. tightened some more, stopped leak. finally at bobby's fish camp I could not get it any tighter but a local guy put a pipe wrench to it and it stopped. now the boat is in demopolis. they are going to check it it out. boat will be there on the hard after tomorrow and they will investigate. wondering what they are going to find. bad shaft, bad cutlass bearing, I don't know. any ideas folks ?
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