Getting wet feet

[Searush]

Popped over to move SR off her borrowed winter mooring at the weekend & found 6" of water in the cabin when I opened her up! :disgust:

Now I have never had much trouble with leaks - she is plastic after all & I had only left her a few weeks ago so it was a bit unexpected. It took about an hour to pump her dry & clear out the wet carpet, by which time I was knackered. There were no obvious, serious leaks but a steady trickle was coming in the stern gland, so I gave it a few pumps of grease & reduced it to the odd drip. Anyway I fell asleep fairly confident I wouldn't have to paddle in the morning & so it proved.

After having a good look around in daylight & emptying a few low down areas that were still holding water it was obvious that the water had been coming in the gland, but why? I had greased it last time I was aboard & had not gone anywhere since to disturb it. So I started the clear up, washed, dried & WD40d all my tools, cleared out the cans of Guinness from the bilge, a few of which were only half full as the cans had corroded and found two auto lifejackets that my son had put under a bunk "out of the way" & forgotten - being Autos, they had both inflated :disgust:

Next I had a quick look over the engine, the water had not reached the top of the batteries or above the bottom of the sump, so it started easily & charged the batteries. that's when I noticed that the stern gland was pouring water again. It seems that the vibration of the engine is enough to disturb the seal of the grease, so when I charged the batteries last time it had been enough to break the seal even tho the prop shaft hadn't turned!

After the tidying up & drying out I tried to adjust the gland but could not shift the lock nut, in fact it wasn't even clear it was a lock nut as there was no visible join between the main body & what should have been a lock nut. So, my question is, are these things ever made in one piece & if not, any ideas for undoing the lock ring? The pic below is from Vyv Cox's web site and is pretty much what it looks like but mine has less thread visible astern of it.

 

[LittleShip]

Can't help Rushie but bugger that must have been a shock :disgust:

Tom.

 

[Searush]

Can't help Rushie but bugger that must have been a shock :disgust:

Tom.

After the initial shock & spending the time to sort it out, it was actually quite reassuring just how much water she could hold without really being in trouble & having relatively little damage. I reckon I might have cleared it quicker with a bucket if at sea. But then having that amount of free surface water sloshing about in a seaway could be a lot more serious than when being tied to a wall in a dead calm harbour.

The real frightener was how long I had to pump before I could be sure that the level was falling, until then I really could have been sinking.

 

[Tranona]

The grease does nothing to seal the gland. It is the packing that does the sealing and the gland needs either tightening up to compress the packing, repacked if that does not work, or better still replaced with a design that does not drip.

 

[aquaplane]

Thanks for the tip to check the stern gland even if I have no reason to suspect that I haven't disturbed it.

Glad that no serious harm was done.

 

[prv]

I'm puzzled - you've had Searush for decades and yet you don't know how to tighten the gland? I used to have to adjust the one on Kindred Spirit a couple of times a season.

Pete

 

[alahol2]

So, my question is, are these things ever made in one piece & if not, any ideas for undoing the lock ring? The pic below is from Vyv Cox's web site and is pretty much what it looks like but mine has less thread visible astern of it.

A similar shock for me a month or so back but at least mine was all in the bilges. It turned out to be fresh water. The flexible tank had split.
Anyway, your question, my stern gland is very similar and, in the absence of a spanner that fits, I use a hammer and screwdriver to crack the locknut (which is the inner tabbed nut) away from the adjustable cup. The same technique to re-lock it once adjusted.

 

[William_H]

Almost certainly the lock nut (the aft nut) is separate from the main nut. As said try a bit of brute force witha carefully calibrated bashometer (hammer) and drift ( blunt chisel) on the lock nut.
This will either loosen the lock nut or move the lock nut and main nut in the tighten direction. If you manage to demolish the nuts well it was time for a replacement anyway.
OP will not be the first to have to discover that it is the tightening of the gland compressing the packing that provides the water seal. Not the grease.As said if you run out of compression with the nut then you replace the packing material. good luck olewill

 

[cimo]

similar to my own. aft nut for sure. turn it to port.
a cheap and nasty plumbers wrench works for me.
http://www.toolsofthetrade.co.uk/reviews2.asp?reviewsID=2
(may need a stilston or similiar to hold the stuffing box - fore nut - steady if its really tight).

 

[cimo]

I'm puzzled - you've had Searush for decades and yet you don't know how to tighten the gland? I used to have to adjust the one on Kindred Spirit a couple of times a season.

Pete

frequent adjustment here could have been a symptom of shaft whip and/or poor engine alignment.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've got a gland like that which i'm re-packing. Mine was easy to unlock but maybe if yours hasn't been touched for a long time you could have some corrosion holding it together. But there is a joint in there which yield to persuasion. I've got a greaser which as far as i can make out, just stops the odd drip when at rest. You shouldn't pump the stern tube full of grease cos that will stop water cooling the gland.

 

[Graham_Wright]

On my previous boat, I had a variable pitch prop. To alter the pitch, the outer tube slide backwards and forwards. Wear developed in one place (in forward propulsion).

The gland could be tightened to stop the leak, but, as soon as the pitch was changed, the shaft moved to an unworn section (still no leak) and then, when it returned to the worn section there was a gap for leakage.

Only cure was to machine the outer sleeve.

 

[Searush]

The grease does nothing to seal the gland. It is the packing that does the sealing and the gland needs either tightening up to compress the packing, repacked if that does not work, or better still replaced with a design that does not drip.

I'm puzzled - you've had Searush for decades and yet you don't know how to tighten the gland? I used to have to adjust the one on Kindred Spirit a couple of times a season.

Pete

Almost certainly the lock nut (the aft nut) is separate from the main nut. As said try a bit of brute force witha carefully calibrated bashometer (hammer) and drift ( blunt chisel) on the lock nut.
This will either loosen the lock nut or move the lock nut and main nut in the tighten direction. If you manage to demolish the nuts well it was time for a replacement anyway.
OP will not be the first to have to discover that it is the tightening of the gland compressing the packing that provides the water seal. Not the grease.As said if you run out of compression with the nut then you replace the packing material. good luck olewill

similar to my own. aft nut for sure. turn it to port.
a cheap and nasty plumbers wrench works for me.
http://www.toolsofthetrade.co.uk/reviews2.asp?reviewsID=2
(may need a stilston or similiar to hold the stuffing box - fore nut - steady if its really tight).

Cheers everyone (not just the few above!) Not being able to turn mine, adjustment is not possible, so only grease will fill the gap. That's why even the vibration of running the engine in neutral opens the floodgates. Checking out Vyv_Cox's web site suggests that there is a dog arrangement to stop the gland rotating & ripping the rubber cover off, so maybe a cold chisel & hammer solution is OK. A colleague did suggest that but we did not trust the hose & did not want to start dismantling the thing (or risk splitting it) while afloat. We did try a couple of Gas pliers on the nuts, but could not move the lock nut at all, it isn't easy to reach down with two sets of pliers, squeeze tight, turn one end & hold the other!

Yes, I have had SR since 1986, but she was re-engine about 2008 & the gland was set up then. It had never been an problem over the previous 20 odd years, but the old engine had been refurbished a few times so it will have been readjusted then no doubt. There is very little thread visible so not much adjustment is left & it has not leaked much before, altho I have had to put a bit more grease in over the last year to keep the drips down after motoring.

I was hoping I could free it off & tap it up a bit, but have bought packing material just in case I need to either add a bit or renew it all. I am now wondering if they didn't repack it when the replaced the engine, prop & shaft, but just screwed it down tight. I shall have to wait for a nice day on a beach some where so I can have a good few hours to have a go at it before the tide returns.

I am of the school of maintenance that says, besides oil & filters, as long as it is working, leave the bloody thing alone. Now it isn't really working so I have to figure it out.

 

[ghostlymoron]

'I am now wondering if they didn't repack it when the replaced the engine, prop & shaft, but just screwed it down tight.'
When I dismantled mine a few days ago, I thought at first there was no packing. (Can't actually see down the thing and access is very difficult). However, I found that a small gimlet which I inherited from my Grandfather was the ideal tool and soon extracted a few scraps of packing and the rest soon followed. I've only just acquired the boat and so know nothing of it's history. I'm going to summon up courage to crawl into the narrow access space today and re-pack it. (Getting in is no problem, but getting out again requires some agility. I always take my mobile phone in there so I can summon the fire brigade if I get stuck)

 

[aquaplane]

If it was mine I would want to get it freed up and then re pack it.

Luckily I have ½" of adjustment left before I have to repack with fresh packing. I have only nipped it up about 6 flats last year so fingers crossed it'll be a while before I have to do anything.

 

[Neil]

Anybody used something like this: http://gfopacking.com

Sounds as if it's the business?

 

[rob2]

Why is it that US manufacturers and suppliers seem to never specify what it is they're selling? If this material is so wonderful, what is it? European suppliers generally tell you what materials the product is manufactured from so you can assess its suitability for the task at hand. I would guess that this is a PTFE based product, which will be suitable for some types of gland but thee have been failures with others should it overheat.

Rob.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've been advised to avoid ptfe packings and stick with graphite. Ptfe not really suitable for continuous rotating shafts but fine for valve seals.