Sadler Sterngland

[timb]

I am confused as to whether I should be bleeding my stern gland or not after launching.
I have a 88 S26 with Volvo engine, there is a 3-4" rubber pipe with Jubilee clips aft of some sort of bearing housing that has a pipe leading to it from an oil resivoir (which did not go down last season). The yard who launched the boat were in some confusion as to whether it should be bled or not - they had not seen one like this before.

I am sure it was not bled last year and gave no trouble.

Any suggetions?

 

[Pye_End]

Sounds like a Halyard oil seal. Does it have two pipes to the pot - one going through the lid and the other from the underside, with a level marked on the side?

If so, no it does not need bleeding. Just top it up to the mark every so often.

 

[timb]

There is only one pipe coming from the bottom of the resivoir. The oil level never changed last year.

 

[Pye_End]

Ah.

Not sure that I have seen an oil pot with one pipe. Hope somebody else has.

 

[samwise]

Our Sadler 29 had a similar arrangement. I think it is a Halyard. Although the owner said that the oil lvele had never gone down while he had it, we had it swapped for a Deep Sea Seal that we considered was more reliable, but which does need bleeding on first launch to guarantee water lubricating the joint. Surely if the Halyard has its own lubrication it does not need to be bled, in fact I think it is probably a god idea to keep water out of it. Ours had one pipe in my recollection, maybe the second pipe is some kind of breather.

 

[Pye_End]

Mine definitely is from Halyard (I fitted it) - it has two pipes from and to the gland, both of which go to the pot. This arrangement does not need bleeding, and I think that over the 9 odd years I have had it I have only needed to top it up a couple of times. It has been an excelent seal.

Not sure if there was a similar gland before this with only one pipe - I had a boat with an outboard at the time, so really didn't pay too much attention to this sort of thing!

 

[cliff]

Re: Sadler Stern gland

The seal you describe was fitted as standard on the Sadlers or that era (and later), The seal consists of a brass bush which is fitted with 3 Niton seals, one at the forward and two at the aft end. The seal does NOT need primed after being ashore for the winter as the oil pot keeps a slight pressure head on the unit.

If you are suspicious about the seal remove the pipe from the seal and with a syringe inject oil down into the seal carrier. DO NOT press the syringe tight against the brass stub as you then run the risk of over pressurising the carrier and blowing a seal out.

I have only ever had to do this once (after changing the seals last year) and used a syringe with hypodermic needle attached. The carrier only holds a couple of cc's of oil.

Another tip, for what it is worth, is ensure there are no air bubbles in the feed pipe between the reservoir and the seal carrier. I changed the seals on my S34 after 8 years even though they were still not leaking.
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"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"

 

[Oldhand]

If the single oil pipe from the reservoir enters the gland at the top (as mine does) it doesn't need bleeding as any air will work its way up the tube to the reservoir. If the pipe doesn't enter at the top then I suggest you slacken off the hose clips on the rubber tube and rotate the galnd housing until it does. Be careful not to slacken the hose clips too much!

 

[cliff]

Re: Sadler Stern gland

As a matter of curiosity what oil do you use in the reservoir pot.
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"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"

 

[James_Calvert]

Re: Sadler Stern gland

This gland is the same as the one on my '85 Sadler 32. I use hypoid 80 or 90 in mine - can't remember why now but it seems to work (maybe it's just because it's easier to squirt into the reservoir from the bottle this oil is supplied in).

It doesn't use much oil at all normally, but from my experience, once you start needing to top up the reservoir by half more than once a season, you ought to get round to replacing the seals at the next lay up. Otherwise you'll find one day that the gland is water instead of oil lubricated, and dripping into the bilge to boot.

I got spare seals from T. Norris, who used to supply a similar oil lubricated stern gland.

Shouldn't need to be bled except on (re)installation.

Hope this helps.