Stern Gland

[Stemar]

I currently have a traditional stuffing gland on Jissel and it's leaking badly. I replaced the stuffing several years ago and it's never been really satisfactory, always leaking a good bit more than a drip a minute under power. It's now got to the point that the bilge pump runs a few times a day. I've tried to adjust the gland, but it's seized and generous use of my Birmingham screwdriver won't shift it in situ.

Once out of the water, I'll be able to remove it and put it in a vice to dismantle, but is it worth it? I'd really like to have the dusty dry engine compartment that means things don't rust before my eyes. Would I really get that with a "dripless" seal? If so, what would you recommend?

Jissel's on a drying mooring, so I'd rather not have to burp the seal every time it dries out. I'm drawn to a face seal, rather than a lip seal, as I don't yet know what condition that bit of my propshaft is in, but it's for a 50 year old Snapdragon, so the budget is limited. It's a 28HP motor driving a 25mm shaft. Milady requires that the boat remains level, and wants to get there, so we do tend to motor a fair bit.

Any thoughts or recommendations, please?

 

[pvb]

Take a look at the Radice Shaft Seal; this is similar to the famous Volvo Penta seal, but has a vent pipe so it doesn't need burping after drying out. Sillette sell them in the UK - https://www.sillette.co.uk/shafts_seals_and_sterntubes_list.html

 

[neilf39]

+1 for the radice seal. Inject grease through the capped fitting once per year and that is it. No leaks no burping.

 

[NormanS]

I have great faith in conventional packing glands. Packed properly, and adjusted properly, they give no problems. Once you have the boat out of the water, get ALL the old packing out, and repack with the correct size of packing, getting experienced assistance if required.

 

[neil_s]

+1 for the conventional seal - also for grease lubricated bearings - one turn of the greaser at the beginning of the day and off you go! no drips, either.

 

[johnalison]

+1 for the Volvo type. I have a saildrive now but when I changed to a Volvo seal on my last boat it was brillant, and no more worries. Burping was no problem but I'm sure a vent is an improvement.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

My yacht's trad grease stuffing stern tube is 60 yrs old and doesn't leak at all. My sailing barge's trad grease stuffing stern tube seized up recently, it's about 100 yrs old and needs a little tlc..the bilges are bone dry though.
I genuinely don't understand why boat owners choose patent rubber seals which demand expensive maintenance, and offer the possibility of sudden failure and sinking.

 

[pvb]

I genuinely don't understand why boat owners choose patent rubber seals which demand expensive maintenance, and offer the possibility of sudden failure and sinking.

They don't need expensive maintenance, and they really are not prone to "sudden failure and sinking"! When you've actually experienced one, come back and tell people how good they are.

 

[rotrax]

They don't need expensive maintenance, and they really are not prone to "sudden failure and sinking"! When you've actually experienced one, come back and tell people how good they are.

+1!

Victorian engineering is fine in it's place.

It's place is not on my boat.

Three seasons ago we had a conventional stuffing box, a high quality USA made one in real bronze.

Due to the hull shape and it's position in our long keeler it was impossible to adjust or service. I purchased expensive special tools but to no avail.

I fitted an Orbitrade Volvo type seal on an 800mm extension tube. Vent pipe, no burping, annual greasing - whats not to like?

By the way, since fitting the bilge under the propshaft is as dry as a nun's crutch!

 

[Poignard]

They don't need expensive maintenance, and they really are not prone to "sudden failure and sinking"! When you've actually experienced one, come back and tell people how good they are.

A friend of mine set off for France from Gosport.

South of the isle of Wight he found his patent seal had started leaking badly. He had to return to Gosport and be lifted out immediately.

My boat has had a traditional packed gland for 20 years. The packed gland has never given the slightest trouble. There would be no advantage whatsoever in me replacing it with a patent seal; a pointless waste of money.

 

[tillergirl]

I have great faith in conventional packing glands. Packed properly, and adjusted properly, they give no problems. Once you have the boat out of the water, get ALL the old packing out, and repack with the correct size of packing, getting experienced assistance if required.

Agree.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

They don't need expensive maintenance, and they really are not prone to "sudden failure and sinking"! When you've actually experienced one, come back and tell people how good they are.

+1!

Victorian engineering is fine in it's place.

It's place is not on my boat.

Three seasons ago we had a conventional stuffing box, a high quality USA made one in real bronze.

Due to the hull shape and it's position in our long keeler it was impossible to adjust or service. I purchased expensive special tools but to no avail.

I fitted an Orbitrade Volvo type seal on an 800mm extension tube. Vent pipe, no burping, annual greasing - whats not to like?

By the way, since fitting the bilge under the propshaft is as dry as a nun's crutch!

Fair enough..I thought you had to buy rubber bellows from Volvo every year or something.

 

[Graham376]

They don't need expensive maintenance, and they really are not prone to "sudden failure and sinking"! When you've actually experienced one, come back and tell people how good they are.

I've seen two boats hauled out this year just because of leaking "rubber or similar" stern glands, makes not known. I've had traditional stuffing boxes for 26 years and never had a problem adjusting them to be virtually drip free.

 

[pvb]

I've seen two boats hauled out this year just because of leaking "rubber or similar" stern glands, makes not known. I've had traditional stuffing boxes for 26 years and never had a problem adjusting them to be virtually drip free.

You've been very lucky. Saves a lot of time which you can spend knitting baggywrinkle and checking your stock of tallow.

 

[rotrax]

Fair enough..I thought you had to buy rubber bellows from Volvo every year or something.

The guy who wired up my plotter and radar on a previous boat was debating changing his Volvo stuffing box as he had been advised that they had a five year life.

His was drip free and working perfectly at 14 years since he fitted it.

Many other recorded instances of long life and conversly, very few stories of drastic failure.

 

[NormanS]

I've seen two boats hauled out this year just because of leaking "rubber or similar" stern glands, makes not known. I've had traditional stuffing boxes for 26 years and never had a problem adjusting them to be virtually drip free.

Yes, but they're dreadfully old-fashioned, don't ye know. Fitting and adjusting packing requires a certain amount of practical ability, and a willingness to get ones hands dirty.

 

[rotrax]

Yes, but they're dreadfully old-fashioned, don't ye know. Fitting and adjusting packing requires a certain amount of practical ability, and a willingness to get ones hands dirty.

NormanS - I have 50 years plus of fixing stuff from mopeds to 12 litre diesel gensets.

I would have liked to have used the Bronze sterngland which was OE on our boat.

Problem was, due to the shape of the vessel around the tube and the position of the gland firstly I had to enter the engine compartment, lay across a low bulkhead, hold the 75mm exhaust tube clear only to find that I could barely touch it with my fingertips. As the hexagons were 1.75 inches across flats, substantial spanners were required. I found that if it was possible to get a tool on one of the nuts, it was impossible to get the second one on. With a tool on the nut, it could not be turned due to the shape of the rear of the vessel which was like a tube with 25% of the top removed - the sides stopped any rotation of the nut as the tool hit the side.

The very informative and authoritive owners forum's advice was to support the gland on a shaped block and use large, long screwdrivers to knock it round using the edge of the nuts.

Well, that is not good enough for me!

To improve access a new cuff was purchased along with a 800mm thick wall GRP tube and an Orbitrade rubber stuffing box.

By effectively moving the foward end of the seal 800mm forward it can now be reached for annual greasing. It also gave a fresh unworm area for the seal to work on. Moving the OE gland in the same way would have made it easier to reach, but very little improvement to fit and move spanners in the still very confined area.

Getting my hands dirty has never been a problem for me.

In fact, rather the converse - " Have you seen your hands.................."

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Triola originally had a conventional packing gland. We replaced it with the Volvo Dripless one for 6 years, thought it had failed (it hadn't, just one of the jubilee clips had vibrated loose!!), so replaced it with a Radice. The lack of needing to burp it on launch has been a great improvement, and it is completely dripless and easy to maintain. Out of all three approaches, the latter was far better for us. Simple to fit, simple to maintain, and cheap to buy also.

 

[ditchcrawler]

I have had Volvo seals on two boats and they were excellent. On my current boat I have fitted a Radice gland from ASAP that they sell under another name. It has a permanent vent so no burping and a screw access on the top for greasing .
So far it has been faultless and an improvement on the Volvo one.

 

[Malish]

I have had Volvo seals on two boats and they were excellent. On my current boat I have fitted a Radice gland from ASAP that they sell under another name. It has a permanent vent so no burping and a screw access on the top for greasing .
So far it has been faultless and an improvement on the Volvo one.

+1 the only challenge might be matching a Radice to you stern tube & shaft sizes but it's not insurmountable