Perkins t6.354m NEED HELP! Greenhorn Captain

im going to start some research on the seal that i might have but i have a picture of before the packing seal blew. maybe you guys can help me identify whether its a wet packing gland or a dripless shaft log. personally it sounds like i have a wet packing gland. replacing the packing without hauling out the boat sounds like it could be a penny saver but sounds like it could be scary at the same time.

BruceK: The battery is now at about 13.4v

Woody: when it came to my starter problem, the inside parts of the starter were almost brand new. It did have quite a bit of dirt inside and the tooth drive was jammed along with the fact that whom ever painted the engine last painted the starter so much that it did not have a very good ground also. The starter issue is now gone. thankfully i never had to pay for it.

heres the shaft:

okay, now assuming this boat hasnt had its packing replaced in a long time (5+years?) what other issues can i expect after hauling out the boat just incase i need to haul it out? I mean I understand the prop should be dismantled and cleaned along with the rudder and rudder packing also be replaced. besides that, Should i expect any issues with needing to replace the drive shaft for any weird reason?

With a shaft measure in inches , I sure hope the engine is hard mounted , no ribber in the mounts.

I would check (or have checked) the engine alignment with the boat in the water a few weeks..

FF

CaptSoterio said:

, Should i expect any issues with needing to replace the drive shaft for any weird reason?

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You should pull the shaft out enough to examine the surface that is inside the stuffing box to make sure it is not badly worn and that it is not corroded. Same with the prop mounting area. Sometimes the packing can wear a small groove and if so you may be able to cut the packing gland hose slightly (or buy a slightly longer one) to avoid that groove so the packing rides on a virgin diameter.

another question that has presented itself is that i was told from the previous owner that the boat is wood surrounded by fiberglass. now i heard from someone that because it was that way that i had to becareful with haulouts that if it was out of the water for too long the wood would dry and expand and crack the fiberglass. anybody know about this or could tell me how long to haul the boat out? Im looking at doing it myself and having someone do the work for me. The places around here force you to pay them to work on your boat the other option is take the boat 8 hours north to port townsend and have them haul it out so i could work on it myself.

If anything the wood will shrink when it dries out. It should have enough glass on it to keep the wood from moving much. It's not going to dry out much hauled out for a month or two.

alright good to hear.