drip-less packing

[Gunfleet]

Anyone tried the West Marine drip-less packing. Did it, er, drip less? I'm thinking of trying it but won't unless it drips less. And that's just about enough drips. Less would've been better. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[LORDNELSON]

Used it on my Southerly 115. Worked very well. Had to tighten up the stern gland three times after first inserting it but after that it worked well. Some of the packing was gradually squeezed out and I had to put an additional ring of teflon impregnated packing after about two years, but it has remained "dripless".

 

[Danny]

I got some green, waxy stuff in a container that looked like a film canister and a little bottle of special lubricant from West Marine some years ago. I used it for several seasons before changing to a dripless shaft seal when changing the engine. It worked really well for me. No drips and it ran very cool. If this is the same stuff as they are selling now then I would recommend it.

 

[Richard10002]

I've just got my head round the idea that a drip every 30 seconds or so is good. It seems that it tells you that the packing isnt too tight.

With dripless packing, how do you know?

 

[ianabc]

I found that the shaft could be turned by just the pressure of a finger on the prop or light pressure on the shaft inside the boat.
I am using the drip free shaft packing from Defender. It's sold in a 35 mm type film canister, and it works!

I added an anode on the shaft a few inches from the gland. This I hope is extra insurance against a catastrophic failure of the shaft coupling and may prevent the shaft from disappearing out the blunt end.

 

[Gunfleet]

Thanks all. I'm going to give it a go!