stuffing box, perhaps?

The attached picture is what I believe to be the stuffing box on my 1982, 34' CHB.* I've owner several boats before, but have never seen a stuffing box such as this one.* I'm assuming that the pressure on the stuffing material is regulated by the two bolts with the lock nuts.* Anyone have one of these?

Thanks,* Mike

That's what it is. Oh don't lose the nuts as most likely they are Bs (British Standard)

It sure looks like a stuffing box/shaft log to me. It's even the right color The ones on our boat use two big collar nuts, one of which is a lock nut, to adjust the pressure on the stuffing material, flax in our case. I've not seen an arrangement like yours, but then I've not seen that many stuffing boxes.

You also have a cooling/lubricating water feed from (I assume) a pickoff on your engine's raw water system. We have these on our boat, too. In our case, it's because GB used two cutless bearings in the shaft log instead of just one, and the one foremost in the tube doesn't get sufficient cooling or lube water on its own. So they pipe water from the engine's raw water system to the shaft log.

It's the reason why, in our boat, if we have to shut down an engine and proceed on one for more than a couple of miles, we have to tie off the shaft of the shut-down engine to prevent it being turned by the freewheeling prop. With no cooling water going to the shaft log (because the engine's not running to send it) it doesn't take long for the bearings to overheat pretty dramatically.

We've mounted angle plates and shackles to the engine room overhead directly above each transmission's shaft coupling to facilitate this. In the nine years we've owned the boat, we've had to use them twice, both for raw water cooling problems that required a precautionary engine shutdown.

Rodger and Marin, thanks for the reply. I normally like to install a PYI dripless seal to replace the stuffing box on any boat I buy, as I'm sold on their reliability. (I know this can start a LOT of debate) However, I also like a dry bilge. Anyway, as this appears to be the unit I'd like to replace, it doesn't seem as if there's enough of a collar for the PYI unit. Guess I'll have to old school it on this boat.

Thanks again,

Mike

Mike,
Yup, that be a stuffing box. I've heard good things about this:
http://www.emarineinc.com/products/gfopacking/packing.html

RT,
Thanks for the site for the dripless packing. Looks like just the stuff I was looking for; dripless, and a LOT cheaper than the purchase of a PYI unit (which I'm still sold on).

Safe cruising,

Mike

Mike, I've had that same stuffing box on a couple of boats and it's a great unit. Easy to adjust with the tools you already own. My current boat has the two big collar nuts like Marin describes that you need a 4" open wrench to adjust! Who the heck has one of those in their toolbox!?
By the way, with the boxes I have I installed the GFO packing 4 years ago, and after an intial adjustment, have only had to adjust it on one engine once. The other none at all. I installed a plastic drip pan (actually a plastic dish pan from Walmart) with a small bilge pump under each stuffing box, plumbed into the shower sump. Keeps the bilge dry. The GFO packing is "almost" dry, but not completely.

>"My current boat has the two big collar nuts like Marin describes that you need a 4" open wrench to adjust! Who the heck has one of those in their toolbox!?"

I use a short pipe wrench. Works great, doesn't take up all that much space in the tool box.

"My current boat has the two big collar nuts like Marin describes that you need a 4" open wrench to adjust! Who the heck has one of those in their toolbox!?"

I use a big !! set of channel locks to adjust.

If its stuck tight , a tap with a chisel on the lock nut breaks the corrosion loose.

FF

I use a set of chain wrenches, that also double for locking down a drive shaft if I'm only running on one engine. I also use them on the shaft logs for the rudders. Sometimes they are a pain to get set up for the different sizes. But the short handles work in tight places.

Y'all do realize that they make a special tool for packing gland nuts that can be bought at your local chandlery.....for cheap.

I always used a hammer and chisel on my last boat since the clearance on the sides of the nuts did not allow any type of wrench to get around it. Dripless on current boat.

Hello,
That water feed hose to the stuffing box is not only to cool the workings (cutlass bearing, stuffing box) it also feeds "fresh" water to the shaft. If the water in the shaft log becomes stagnaent it will become oxygen depelted and encourage crevice corrosion of the shaft. The constant flow of water from the engine over the shaft will stop this.

I am replacing my PYI dripless stuffing box with a new one. THe old one was not maintained properly and was starting to drip.
The new ones require a water feed to keep them lubed.
R,

Mike.

You have the best stuffing box. Unless you want to spend big bucks, stick with it. Maybe have it repacked by a pro while you are watching then you could do it.

On a previous boat I the other style with the two big collar nuts. One nut split so I decided to replace with PSS dripless units since the shaft had to be pulled anyway. Expensive.

">Y'all do realize that they make a special tool for packing gland nuts that can be bought at your local chandlery.....for cheap>

I bought a pair of these at West Marine shortly after buying our boat. The theory behind them is good but the design and execution is poor. They are VERY difficult to keep on the gland nuts, particularly if you have to apply a fair amount of pressure to break the lock nut free. And the handles are not long enough to let you apply the amount of leverage that is sometimes needed. So we gave up on them and went to using the short-handled pipe wrench which works great.

My stuffing box wrench is made out of plywood! I guess the PO cut one out of 1/2" or so and varnished it. I just tap the lock nut with a hammer to loosen it, then use the plywood wrench to back it off a bit, then tighten the packing nut. Reverse the above to tighten.

Of course, since I put in the Goretex GFO packing, I've only had to adjust it maybe three times in 6 years. Less than 1/8 turn each time after the initial run-in.