Stuffing box - why change ?

affinite

affinite

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The stern- gland on my Moody 44 is a traditional stuffing box and grease pump arrangement.
The gand does drip quite a bit and servicing it by replacing the packing is top of my fit-out list for when I go out to the boat in 3 weeks time but I'm wondering if a change of stern gland is in order.
Part of me says "if it aint broke dont fix it", but the current stuffing box does drip a lot (hence the plan to service it) The other part of me says get the yard to fit a modern drip-less seal before I get there and have a dry bilge for a change.

So ... my question is; what, apart from complete failure of the original gland, has driven others to replace the stuffing box with a modern alternative?
Its a lot of money to prevent a few drips :)

Thanks
Steve
 
I haven't changed mine yet but seriously considering it.
Current packing gland appears seized up, so adjustment or repacking impossible until I can get the nut moving again. It also has a remote greaser which is completely unnecessary- having my engine in the saloon means very good access to the stern gland (it's at the foot of the companionway) so all the remote greaser does is take up space in the cockpit locker.
My previous boat had a rubber stuffing box, and I can get one for £50, sell the nearly-new remote greaser for about £30, and have a dripless boat and more room in the locker again... what's not to like?
 
affinite said:
So ... my question is; what, apart from complete failure of the original gland, has driven others to replace the stuffing box with a modern alternative?
Click to expand...

Just the dry bilge.

How desirable that is depends on the boat. Our previous boat had a traditional hull shape with a very deep bilge sump inside what would be the solid deadwood in a wooden boat. A stuffing gland dripping into that was no problem at all, and I never considered changing it. The current boat is the modern soapdish type where a pint of water goes everywhere, and I've been working to eliminate all sources of water in the bilge. She has a saildrive so the issue doesn't arise, but if she had a shaft I would definitely have opted for a non-dripping gland.

Pete
 
We changed ours from a packing type and replaced it with a modern one, we have been very happy indeed.

It doesn't drip, it requires no maintenance, it's quiet, it is virtually friction free so adds a minute amount more power, it doesn't wear the prop shaft.

It's good!
 
I changed mine to a patent type about 7 years ago, it has been fine. I only did it because I had other stuff to do and the shaft had to be changed.

Fussing with grease and putting up with oily water is a bit 19th century.

However, If your stuffing box comes apart without problems and you have no reason to take out the shaft, I might keep what you have. Repack it and if it does not come up to scratch, get a new one next year.
 
affinite said:
The stern- gland on my Moody 44 is a traditional stuffing box and grease pump arrangement.
The gand does drip quite a bit and servicing it by replacing the packing is top of my fit-out list for when I go out to the boat in 3 weeks time but I'm wondering if a change of stern gland is in order.
Part of me says "if it aint broke dont fix it", but the current stuffing box does drip a lot (hence the plan to service it) The other part of me says get the yard to fit a modern drip-less seal before I get there and have a dry bilge for a change.

So ... my question is; what, apart from complete failure of the original gland, has driven others to replace the stuffing box with a modern alternative?
Its a lot of money to prevent a few drips :)

Thanks
Steve
Click to expand...

Hi Steve

I have a similar set up.

My first question would be is your current stuffing box correctly tightened?? Not sure of how big an engine or shaft you have is but for example on my 1" dia shaft 27.5hp engine running
for say 1800 rpm for say three hours I might get a saucer full of drips.

Second question is when did you last replace your stuffing?

Yes my stuffing box gets hottish, but if I can grip it tight without burning my hand then ok, if I can not grip it then its too tight.

One last point I top up with grease from the greaser as you do after 15hrs engine running time, but this usually is two turns on the greaser handle max
 
I have a deep bilge so drips are immaterial, but when I had a shallow bilge boat it was a royal PITA if it dripped. The possibility - and actual cases - of sudden failure in the drippless type mean I prefer the stuffing box. A lot depends on access, it's very poor on my boat so a drippless would be nearly impossible to fix if it suddenly let go.
 
I think that this is the fundamental issue, if you have a proper bilge a stuffing gland with a bit of ingress doesn't really matter. In fact my view is that it excersises the auto bilge pump once a fortnight (in my case) or so then that's a bonus. I know all the evidence is to the contrary but I just can't bring myself to trust any of the patent glands.
 
We are just going through the same process on a friends boat. He has a traditional gland which always leaked so decided to fit a Radice rubber seal BUT on closer inspection the shaft is not concentric with the stern tube and to rectify this situation the engine has to move sideways which is not easy. It is a replacement engine which has had spacers/extra rear plate added to enable the existing engine bearers to be used and it's a very tight fit in the engine compartment with difficult access to the mountings. We are still pondering the problem to find the easiest way to solve it. We may even repack the gland...............
 
Hadenough said:
I think that this is the fundamental issue, if you have a proper bilge a stuffing gland with a bit of ingress doesn't really matter. In fact my view is that it excersises the auto bilge pump once a fortnight (in my case) or so then that's a bonus. I know all the evidence is to the contrary but I just can't bring myself to trust any of the patent glands.
Click to expand...

+1

If adjusted properly they drip very little and nothing to fail.
 
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