Vetus Dripless Stern Gland - DRIPPING!!

[Richard10002]

My boat has some kind of Vetus dripless stern gland. There seem to be several types of Vetus gland, so I cant find anything on the Vetus site or the web which is similar. I must admit to having no idea how it works, and have done nothing with it since buying the boat in 2011, I guess naively told myself that it could be maintenance free
. Hope the pic appears.

A few weeks ago I cleaned out the bilge of rust, and gave it a coat of Vactan with a view to doing a proper paint job in a few weeks time. Over the weekend we went on a short trip for a pub lunch, (1 mile round trip), and the following day I noticed some water in the bilge, and the gland dripping about once every ten seconds. It's stopped dripping now, and actually dried up a little, but it's obviously time to do something with the gland.
I've heard of "burping" a dripless gland, squirting some grease into it, and replacing bits of it completely, (which may mean withdrawing the shaft a bit or a lot). However, I cant find any info to tell me exactly which gland I have, and how to maintain and/or fix it.

I'm hoping I just need to squirt some grease to start with, and see how it goes, but I dont know where and how, so any advice will be welcomed. I think I've got a decent grease gun somewhere, but it will probably only have ordinary grease in it. There is something that looks like a grease nipple attached to the hull just above where the prop shaft leaves the boat, but I would have thought that the seal would be at the engine end of the gland and I cant see anywhere to inject grease at that end.

I've asked the question on canalworld.net, and noone has the same gland as me, so lots of helpful general advice, but nothing specific.

Many thanks,

Richard

 

[coopec]

Richard

Are you sure that bis a "dripless stern gland"? I'm certainly no expert but that looks like a stuffing box to me.

Here are some (mostly) images of stern glands.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...UICygC&biw=1067&bih=587#imgrc=n4_CWZAyvH1wmM:

And here are some images of stuffing boxes. Apparently stuffing boxes are supposed to drip a little.

https://www.google.com.au/search?bi...img..7.8.2221.0..35i39k1j0i67k1.0.PGaXVNA-taA

Clive

 

[Spyro]

Looks like it would be adjustable with the big knurled nut.

 

[Tranona]

Not a Vetus gland but a straightforward stuffing box. Looks like it needs adjusting by turning the big knurled nut as the packing has probably worn. Maybe repacking in the longer term.

 

[Richard10002]

I obviously dont know what it is!

But it's got Vetus written on the brass stuff, as well as on the rubber gaitor. It could be a dripper, but it has never dripped until Sunday, and I'm reasonably sure that the surveyor said it was dripless, but that was 7 years ago.

My experience of glands which drip a bit are that they need a greasing facility, which you use to squeeze in some grease every trip, and they have packing, which needs changing now and then . I can easily be very wrong.

Are we suggesting that the castellated ring is the thing that tightens up on the packing - remove the screw and it spins? How do I put more grease in?

 

[Tranona]

That puts a new perspective on it. All the Vetus ones I have seen have a water feed on them and a bolted on end cap that you remove to access the lip seals for replacement. Maybe that cap unscrews to achieve the same thing.

Stuffing boxes do not necessarily need grease as the packing is self lubricating. The grease is there to fill the housing to stop water leaking up past the packing when the shaft is stationary.

 

[coopec]

Richard

Here is the Nautico/Vetus stuffing Box which looks a lot like yours

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?152398-Stern-Gland-Greaser-What-Grease



Clive

 

[Richard10002]

That's pretty close.... thanks ever so much.

Not much room to unscrew the nut, so repacking isn't going to be straightforward.

Presumably, if it's a normal stuffing box, there should be a drip every 15 seconds or so, and it should run warm to the touch?

What might happen if I removed the rubber gaitor? Or perhaps a better question is: What is likely to be under the rubber gaitor?

 

[Tranona]

A well adjusted stuffing box does not necessarily drip. If it running cool then it is OK.

The rubber just connects the box to the stern tube. Inside is just the shaft. The idea is to allow the shaft to move, but in your case it is not necessary as that plumber block holds the shaft rigid. Lack of movement is probably why the seal is not dripping. The engine moves independent of the shaft because of that massive flexible coupling. Would guess the installation is pretty smooth.

Suggest you tighten the nut a couple of notches to see if that stops the drip, but monitor the temperature of the housing when running.