Stern glad repacking

[Sea Lion]

Hi all

I've had a trawl through old posts on the subject but can't find specially what I'm after so here goes

My boat is in for it's annual service and they mentioned that the stern glad is getting a bit dry and crusty and could do with repacking. Not sure what type it is but it's not a box. It has a rubber seal around the shaft as it exits the boat. The engine is a kamd 300 from 2004. I've been quoted c.4 hours work to replace which I thought was ok. I have researched a bit and was wondering if this was excessive for the job and what's the driver for getting the work done. It doesn't leak or overheat so was wondering if it actually needs doing?

Thanks

 

[Tranona]

The stern gland is on the inside of the boat, not the outside. The one outside is almost certainly a cutless bearing which does not seal, only supports the shaft. The description you give of what needs doing suggests it is the packing in a stuffing box. There are various different types and not dependent on the type of engine. Difficult to say if 4 hours is excessive without knowing the type and particularly how easy/difficult to access.

 

[Bandit]

I am not sure if you have a yacht or a motor boat?

See the following website : http://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Sternglands.aspx

This shows the various types of sterglands.

If you have a traditional stuffing box a tube around the shaft packed with a greased type of rope ( I know its not real rope) and a grease pump they do need repacking on a regular basis. They need to drip water into the bilge to show water is in the gland allowing it to cool when the engine is running. They are messy affairs and give you a wet bilge.

There are better modern alternatives that are robust and keep a dry bilge such as Volvo seals or Tides Marine seals as I have fitted to my boat.

You will probably have a cutlass bearing at the rear end of your sterntube a rubber bearing glued in to a bronze or plastic carrier held in the sterntube that is water lubricated and holds your shaft in place when you are running the engine, this may need replacing if it is worn.

I am in the trade if you want to see a Tides Marine or Volvo Seal and a cutlass bearing drop me a PM with your tel no and I will call you back.

 

[Otter]

It would take me 4 days to repack a stern gland but I'm useless. 4 hours is a lot, our yard took 20 minutes to put a new coil in, he said if he'd needed to take the older stuff out (it was only 2 years old but silly first yard hadn't put enough in) it would have been an hour's work. Our gland is almost impossible to reach so it's not an easy job. To an experienced engineer it's a simple routine job.

 

[aquatom]

It sounds to me more like you have the volvo or similar type of lip seal on the shaft. If the shaft needs to be removed then 4 hrs sounds ok.
Can we have a photo of the seal?

 

[PCUK]

When you say exits the boat do you mean exits the shaft tube inside the boat? About an hour to repack a traditional stuffing box inside the boat.

 

[Sandyman]

Not sure but these may assist.

http://www.diybob.com/diyPackingGland.htm

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box&page=1