winter projects

[tn6437]

while my boat is on the hard this winter I am planning two upgrades.
1. bow thruster
since my boat is a single screw and a lot of my plans next year will require locking through scores of locks unassisted I feel one will come in handy, not to mention docking alone.
looking for recommendations on which brand is best , cost/benefit wise.
2. dripless seal
I am also getting tired of worrying about the packing on the driveshaft. who has converted over to dripless seals and which one seems best ?

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. 6437. Can't advise on the thruster BUT I would seriously re-think about switching to a dripless device with the inherent real danger of sinking your boat. With proper packing, there should be very little drip and it will last for years. So stop worrying. Personally I would worry myself sick if I had one of those non traditional packing do-dads.

 

[C lectric]

Use the Gore GFO packing and you will not need to worry anymore. I did mine over 10 years ago. I do allow a SLIGHT weep/drip and I adjust once/twice a year.
I've been through all the older packings and none of them stood up.
A competitor to the Gore is Duramax. They are very similar.
And get the Gore or Duramax. THere are look alikes and I tried a few with not great results.

Just take some time to set the packing properly. To do it properly it is not crank and go. Like anything good it needs some initial setup,

I am aware of all the "dripless" seals but I prefer the Gore as IF and WHEN I have trouble, if ever, I can repack ANYWHERE.

In my job I used the ceramic/carbon rotary seals on lots of water pumps which is basically what the Dripless are. . ALthough good/excellent they are NOT absolutely dry nor are they maintenance free. There is an invisible mist of spray that can travel and rust steel components nearby. If you have a failure you have to disconnect the shaft meaning often the boat must be hauled to do the work..

A last note is about that spray. That will occur no matter what you use.
I cover mine where the shaft enters the stuffing box with a wrap of an old small fender cut to fit leaving a small opening or split on the bottom so the water that collects drips into the bilge, not travel all over the engine room.

 

[DavidM]

Gore GFO packing. Install it once, adjust it right and you will never have to change it again. Maybe check the drip rate a couple of times each year and adjust again. Some just adjust it so it doesn't drip and forget it. it is kind of self lubricating and if adjusted just short of a drip, won't overheat.

Installing a dripless seal shaft log will require a haulout. Installing GFO packing can be done in the water. Much cheaper and safer solution.

David

 

[Cigatoo]

Duramax Shaft Sealing Systems: Ultra-X High-Performance Packing
One and done!

 

[Comodave]

I put a dripless seal on a previous boat and didn’t have any problems with it but decided on this boat to stick with Duramax in our traditional stuffing box. We are replacing the hose on the stuffing box so I will have to repack when we reassemble the box. We are replacing the clamps and right now are waiting on the new clamps to come in. We are using AWAB T bolt clamps and they are awesome. We have the new AWAB T bolt clamps for the exhaust hose and they are unbelievable as to construction. They don’t have any welds but rather an interlocking system instead of welds.

 

[Cigatoo]

I received a quote for a bow thruster from East Coast bow thrusters. 36 foot Grand Banks. $9500 plus $500 for a second station. I assume that was complete with battery, cables, etc. Not in the budget this year so didn’t go any further.
https://www.ecbowthrusters.com/

They have a good reputation in these parts.

 

[kchace]

while my boat is on the hard this winter I am planning two upgrades.
1. bow thruster
since my boat is a single screw and a lot of my plans next year will require locking through scores of locks unassisted I feel one will come in handy, not to mention docking alone.
looking for recommendations on which brand is best , cost/benefit wise.
2. dripless seal
I am also getting tired of worrying about the packing on the driveshaft. who has converted over to dripless seals and which one seems best ?

Frankly, I would worry more about a dripless seal than a traditional packing. A failed dripless seal can sink your boat. Traditional packings MAY be a bit more maintenance, but at worst they have an annoying drip. Install modern, high tech packing which needs extremely little (or no) drip and can last a number of years.

Ken

 

[tn6437]

seems as though most prefer the packing to dripless seals. perhaps I just had a bad experience with the packing (mostly due to a badly corroded driveshaft that was chewing up packing every 36-48 hours of running, couple that with a cheap wrench that actually broke while I was repacking the shaft. ) since replacing the shaft and repacking the shaft I haven't had a problem but haven't ran the boat more than dozen or so hours.

 

[syjos]

I also do not trust dripless shaft seals. I've witnessed several boats taking on water when they fail. One sank.

I prefer to use dripless moldable packing sold by Western Pacific Trading. It will mold itself around grooves, pits and other shaft imperfections. Once adjusted, it will either not drip at all or very little.

After removing all old packing, a single layer of PTFE packing material is placed around the shaft and pushed into the packing box/gland.

The moldable packing is shaped and stuffed into the box against the single layer of PTFE packing material until almost full. Leave room for final PTFE layer.

A final single layer of PTFE is wrapped around the shaft, the packing box cap is pushed in and hand tightened. The two PTFE packing material sandwiches the moldable packing between them keeping the moldable from oozing out.

Run the engine in gear and adjust until stuffing box stops leaking and remains cool. It may take several adjustments to get it right but once adjusted properly, will not require adjusting for years.

 

[jleonard]

I’ve had dripless seals on my last 2 boats. I never had a leak. I use Tides seals. They are a lip seal the same kind that is on a typical engine crankshaft.
I have a spare pre assembled on the shaft in case I need to replace in the water.
I like zero salt water in the bilge.
YMMV

 

[Ken E.]

PSS dripless seals get a lot of negative comments here, Tides lip seals as well. I've had PSS seals on both my drive and rudder shafts for 12 years and I like them.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. KE. Oh, I agree the dripless systems DO work...until they don't. THEN you have a problem. I would guess there are possibly thousands of boats with some sort of dripless system installed with no problems but I would NOT want to be one of the minority that had a sinking simply to keep a few drips of water out of my bilge.

 

[Ken E.]

Certainly is your choice, RT. Personally I'd never return to the packing gland method.

 

[jleonard]

Certainly is your choice, RT. Personally I'd never return to the packing gland method.

Neither would I.
I only know of one boat personally that had a PSS style and had an issue. But that was self inflicted as the boat was 100% ignored maintenance wise for several years. It did not sink but took on water halfway up the engine.
Any inkling of attention and it would not have happened.

 

[ctjstr]

On our camano, getting down to tighten a traditional seal is a real PITA. I suppose that's why they came with dripless.
When mine failed this past summer, I looked at both the PSS, which most folks use, but ended up getting a Sure Seal from Fisheries. I liked it better for a couple reasons. One is that you don't have a spring to deal with and more important, you can buy a spare seal that simply attached to your shaft. If the one you put in happens to fail at some point, you can pull it out of its housing, cut it off, and slide the new one back into the housing. Boat does not have to come out of the water and takes a few minutes. It was a good solution for me.

 

[O C Diver]

I've have PSS dripless seals on my trawler and on my charter boat. Probably have somewhere around 100,000 miles combined without an issue. Only real maintenance has been to change the rubber boot twice on the charter boat as PM.

If you're worried about a dripless seal sinking your boat, you don't have enough bilge pump capacity. For most boats, unless you have a really worn cutlass bearing, water intrusion is moderate. A failed engine raw water hose is much more impressive.

Ted

 

[ctjstr]

On our camano, getting down to tighten a traditional seal is a real PITA. I suppose that's why they came with dripless.
When mine failed this past summer, I looked at both the PSS, which most folks use, but ended up getting a Sure Seal from Fisheries. I liked it better for a couple reasons. One is that you don't have a spring to deal with and more important, you can buy a spare seal that simply attached to your shaft. If the one you put in happens to fail at some point, you can pull it out of its housing, cut it off, and slide the new one back into the housing. Boat does not have to come out of the water and takes a few minutes. It was a good solution for me.

Here's the failed seal. Looks like water feed got plugged and then the whole thing melted. Fair amount of water coming in while waiting to get hauled out. Had one bilge pump fail but adjacent one kept us dry until we were up on the dirt.