stuffing box

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Can I exchange the flax packing when my boat in the water, someone told me I can go in a water use a towel to clogged the hole where the shaft go thougth the hull and take a time to change the falx packing. With 22mm shaft what size flax do I need and how to do it. Why the flex wear down so fast only last 6 months (bend new stuffing box come w/flex) I can't tighen anymore and the water still drop in when the engine off. I have a plactic stuffing box w/two bolt , one on each side to hold it down. I made a mistake to loose those bolt and tighen it back (pls. don't ask me why. I knew I was worng.) Thank you for help.
 
I agree.

Its possible to repack the stuffing box afloat but you do need to know what you are doing. Usually there are three or four rings. You can take out the top one easily enough, to get a correct match. Afloat, I always leave the bottom one in place. Some yachts just drip a bit with the stuffing out, but mine quickly floods.

It should last more than six months. Are you turning the greaser regularly (every couple of hours or so) when the engine is in use? The clamp should be tight enough to prevent dripping when stationary, but allow 2-3 drips per minute when the shaft is turning. It isn't necessary to adjust the clamp more than once or twice a season.

Do you have excessive vibration? If you have a worn cutlass bearing or an alignment problem, that will encourage wear and leaks in the stern gland.
 
IF you know what you are doing, AND can accept water coming in.
With these glands, the packing MUST be lubricated, usually grease and I was taught the hard way when I first went to sea many moons ago to have one drip per minute. On no account do the follower up tightly, If you burn the packing and score the shafting then getting a stable drip for a long time will be impossible.
 
Dont toutch thing's you know nothing about !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I read this and thought it's some one having a laugh ?

Get a marine engineer to both check every thing is ok , then if it's as it should be give you hands on advice .

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I told to marine engineer, he said it can be do afloat and I want more advice, how to greasing the packing, greased every few hours counld you pls explain more. I have a one single cyclinder engine with some vibration but the cutlass bearing aligment and engine mount had changed by marine engineer six months age.
 
Moreover, I just told to the marine egineer who helped me to put the new stuffig box on 6 months age he said my boat is using GFO packing which no need greaseing and becuase my 1GM10 engine mount to soft need to exchange other harder mount to make less vabration then should slove the problem. what do you think?
 
It sounds as if you need a good flexible coupling. If as with some boats it is a Yan 1GM10 on the standard mountings and not coupled flexibly enough then the shaft will carry vibrations or oscillations down to the packing and flatten it out in no time.

The proper solution is to have a plummer bearing (i.e. a support bearing) on the shaft forward of the stuffing gland so that no engine movement is transmitted to the gland. Very few yachts are built this way.

I have never come across packing that doesn't need greasing.
 
I would certainly agree you need to act with caution, and this sounds like a good way to end up with a flooded boat...
BUT
I think this comment is completely unfair, and unhelpful. If I followed this advice, I'd have never done anything to my boat, yet now I service my own engine, have replaced the rigging, rudder bearings, treated a boat with osmosis......none of which I had experience of, so I was in the same position as you are with your leaking gland. Some of us can't afford to call in the experts every time something goes wrong.

I'd suggest you do a bit more research before you start fiddling with it, and I'd be very wary of trying to do this on the water. Best of luck.
 
inexperience + \"marine engineer\"

all this talk about harder mounts and bearings on the prop shaft is a side issue and will only confuse the chap.

go back to basics.

how old is the boat?
is the engine the original?
did this combination work ok before the "marine engineer" messed with it.
ie did it work normally and then slowly deteriorate and then not work correctly after the engineer messed with it?
if it was ok before except for normal wear and tear then the engineer is at fault and could possibly have messed up the installation.
if the engineer only changed the packing then the fault is with the packing or installation, if he moved the engine then we have something else to check, whatever the engineer touched needs to be checked.
stu
 
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