Stern Gland packing.

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oldgit

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Having had a quick peruse of Mr Cox website regards info on stern glands eventually summoned up the courage to do the job in the water.
Ordered the correct packing from ebay and off we went.
Was rather suprised at just how little water was dibbling into the boat when we finally managed to extract all the coils of old packing,was expecting 3 or so rings,must have got out half dozen before hitting bare metal.
It was obvious it had not been touched for years and suspect that new had merely been added to old.
After carefully carefully cutting rings at correct angles and putting them in bolted everything back up and all OK.
However after doing the job, actually read the supplied info sheet.
Basically the manufacturer states its just fine to just coil it into gap until it is full and clamp up.
No need to bother with all that tedious and time consuming seperate ring cutting.
Now have to do the other one......
As usual actually doing the job turned out far less of a problem than the concern about it before hand.

Any comments :)
 
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Being a retired MN Marine Engineer, I was taught to repack pump and valve glands using the individual ring method, exactly as you've done, so I would recommend doing the same with your other stern gland.
 
I have never come across the spiral coil method before, always cut individual rings.

To Capt. Clueless, as oldgit has found it is very undramatic doing the job afloat. My motorsailer shaft is 35 mm, which I thought might result in a bigger inflow of water than with the one inch ones I have done previously, but there was little difference.
 
Capt. Clueless said:
I was steered well away from carrying out this activity with the boat still in the water.
Click to expand...

Expected a deluge experienced a dribble, most underwhelmed.

My shafts are 1.5 " and in the 20 mins it took me to dig out several years worth of ancient and virtually rigid gland packing, the bilge pump went off twice.Perhaps half a buckets worth. ?
Installed x 4 rings and probably will put in another as plenty of room for another layer in gland.


They are installed very low on by bilge
 
>Basically the manufacturer states its just fine to just coil it into gap until it is full and clamp up.

Packing is always cut into rings, also when you have filled the tube with packing tighten it and then release it you will find you can fit more packing.
 
When I did mine there were 6 rings of solidly packed packing in each, one had almost rotted away but the rest were rock hard with no give whatsoever, no idea when they were last done but no they don't leak and no longer get too hot to touch.
I also sought info from Vyv's website first, a great resource much appreciated.
 
Had a look at my sterngland today. It appears to be water lubricated. My question relates to how to tell if it needs adjustment (presently has the odd drip getting through) and, if so, how?

On my last boat I simply greased the stuffing box every so often so this type is new to me (sorry for the thread hi-jack!)

IMG_20171104_110751901.jpg
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Perfectly normal setup. It is water lubricated by water coming up the stern tube. The hose is for grease which is there to stop water getting past the packing when the shaft is not turning. Common to give a turn of the greaser after every time you use the boat.

It is adjusted by turning those two nuts which tighten the sleeve and compress the packing. No set time, just observe when water is more than the odd drop when running. The aim is to reduce drip to almost nothing but not so tight that the bearing runs hot.
 
oldgit said:
... Basically the manufacturer states its just fine to just coil it into gap until it is full and clamp up.
No need to bother with all that tedious and time consuming seperate ring cutting......
Click to expand...

You may have misread the sheet. The instructions to make the rings can show a picture of the packing being wound round a shaft (or mandrel) in a spiral fashion about 6 times. The spiral is then sliced through with a sharp knife so that the rings are made at the correct size with a clean butt joint. The rings are then packed into the stern gland; takes no time at all to make the rings.

See Page A-25 https://www.tomirtech.sk/sites/default/files/eng-4glsupercatalogapril2008lo.pdf

Another example http://www.klinger.co.za/technical-information/packing-installation/
 
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BlowingOldBoots said:
You may have misread the sheet. The instructions to make the rings can show a picture of the packing being wound round a shaft (or mandrel) in a spiral fashion about 6 times. The spiral is then sliced through with a sharp knife so that the rings are made at the correct size with a clean butt joint. The rings are then packed into the stern gland; takes no time at all to make the rings.

See Page A-25 https://www.tomirtech.sk/sites/default/files/eng-4glsupercatalogapril2008lo.pdf

Another example http://www.klinger.co.za/technical-information/packing-installation/
Click to expand...

My ability to missread perfectly simple instructions and diagrams is legendary nearly equal to my total lack of any sense of direction.

Did the other gland yesterday and a real pig to dig out the last layer of compacted packing.
Was at least a 6 bilge pumpout job.
The flow from outside did help wash out the last few fragments.
Being a Mobo, access to gland is probably more difficult than single screw yacht, it is impossible to look directly into the gland body and the only check to confirm all the junk is out is courtesy of a small screwdriver contacting metal round the entire shaft.
Simple and straightforward job which can be done by even the most incompetent worrier, saving time and money on lift outs or drying blocks.
Give it ago .:)
 
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