Volvo "Dripless" Drippy Stern gland....Replacement time

[MagicalArmchair]

So coming back across the Thames on Tuesday, I didn't like to tell my new, nervous to sailing pal that we were taking on water as we chugged across the calm glassy waters, so I made him a bacon sandwich, a cup of coffee and surreptitiously pumped the bilges again.

My Volvo dripless shaft seal has been in for err, around seven years I suppose. Its lasted less time than I had hoped, but more time that it specifies on the box, and we've done quite a lot of chugging over those seven years. So, the time has come to replace it. My late father did it last time around, and I must say I didn't pay nearly enough attention (oblique, none). The process, as I see it, is:

• Lift out (I need to lift out for a scrub anyway).
• Undo the shaft coupling (mine looks like the "confusing coupling" in Vyvs post here http://coxeng.co.uk/stern-gear/coupling-types-and-removal/) and little grub screw.
• Pull out shaft until the shaft seal can be removed and replaced.
• Replace with a Radice? (hurrah, no more burping) Lead a pipe from the Radice up above the waterline/top of cockpit lockers.
• Lead the shaft back to the coupling. Apply blue locktite to the four main clamp-bolts. Tighten back up (any idea what torque?)

Questions

• What torque do you tighten the clamp-bolts back up to?
• Once the clamp-bolts are released, do I need to use a screwdriver or the like to splay the clamp to release the shaft? Or with this sort of shaft the way that Vyv suggests here is the best bet?
• Is a Radice still a good bet these days? Not superseded by anything?

 

[pvb]

I reckon the Radice version is better than the Volvo version, so it's well worth changing to it.

If you have trouble releasing the shaft, you can try inserting a thin sheet of steel in the slot and then inserting one of the clamp screws in the threaded hole - screw it in until it bears on the steel sheet, then screw a bit more to open the gap slightly.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Thanks, do we know if any of the suppliers at the Southampton Boat Show will be stocking Radices?

Edit - Additionally, I can't find any information on the shaft seal from Radice themselves - I wonder if they still manufacture it? I can buy it on ebay, but thats about it. ASAP stock this: https://www.asap-supplies.com/prope...vo-penta-propeller-shaft-stuffing-box-91872-1 Which looks similar (spookily so)

 

[Gwylan]

So coming back across the Thames on Tuesday, I didn't like to tell my new, nervous to sailing pal that we were taking on water as we chugged across the calm glassy waters, so I made him a bacon sandwich, a cup of coffee and surreptitiously pumped the bilges again.

My Volvo dripless shaft seal has been in for err, around seven years I suppose. Its lasted less time than I had hoped, but more time that it specifies on the box, and we've done quite a lot of chugging over those seven years. So, the time has come to replace it. My late father did it last time around, and I must say I didn't pay nearly enough attention (oblique, none). The process, as I see it, is:

• Lift out (I need to lift out for a scrub anyway).
• Undo the shaft coupling (mine looks like the "confusing coupling" in Vyvs post here http://coxeng.co.uk/stern-gear/coupling-types-and-removal/) and little grub screw.
• Pull out shaft until the shaft seal can be removed and replaced.
• Replace with a Radice? (hurrah, no more burping) Lead a pipe from the Radice up above the waterline/top of cockpit lockers.
• Lead the shaft back to the coupling. Apply blue locktite to the four main clamp-bolts. Tighten back up (any idea what torque?)

Questions

• What torque do you tighten the clamp-bolts back up to?
• Once the clamp-bolts are released, do I need to use a screwdriver or the like to splay the clamp to release the shaft? Or with this sort of shaft the way that Vyv suggests here is the best bet?
• Is a Radice still a good bet these days? Not superseded by anything?

Have done that, pretending I'm checking the oil or heat exchanger and spiriting half buckets of water down the galley.

Replace with a Radice, any fool can do it. I am living proof. Look for a video on YouTube.

For the clamp bolts I used a short handled socket wrench and figured within reason I could not put too much torque on it. Somewhere on tinternet there is a sort of idiots guide to torque that can be produced

 

[Tranona]

You can get your Radice seal from the distributors, Sillette or Lake Engineering (same company). To move the coupling when you have undone the clamps screws and detached from the gearbox, put a spacer such as a large socket in between the end of the shaft and the gearbox output, then replace the coupling screws and tighten the nuts. This will force the coupling off the shaft.

Make sure you can push the shaft back enough without the prop hitting anything. The seal is 110mm long and the coupling similar length, so you need at least that amount of space between the end of the shaft and the gearbox coupling.

Never bothered to torque the nuts - just do them as tight as you can with a normal spanner. Never had one come undone.

 

[macd]

As suggested, the Radice is an improvement: self-burping and with a greasing point.

There's a link on this page of the (slightly clunky) Silette site Tranona referred to: http://www.sillette.co.uk/shafts_seals_and_sterntubes_list.html

This takes you to a pdf file. Radice seals are at the top of the page, referred to there as "RMTA Shaft Seals".

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Super, thanks, Lake Engineering are exhibiting at the Southampton Boat Show, so I'll see if I can illicit a boat show deal on the stand... never know!

 

[DJE]

I used the torque settings recommended by R and D Marine.
http://www.randdmarine.com/flexiblescinst.asp

 

[cmedsailor]

[*]Replace with a Radice? (hurrah, no more burping) Lead a pipe from the Radice up above the waterline/top of cockpit lockers.
[/LIST][/B]

I think I am a bit confused here. The radice, as far as I know, is fed with water via a hose coming from a seacock. If you don't have already this in your current set up you will need to make a hole somewhere below the water line, and install a through hull and a seacock. What pipe are you referring to?

 

[MagicalArmchair]

I think I am a bit confused here. The radice, as far as I know, is fed with water via a hose coming from a seacock. If you don't have already this in your current set up you will need to make a hole somewhere below the water line, and install a through hull and a seacock. What pipe are you referring to?

As I understand it....... maybe wrong...... the hose is for venting the air and should be led up above the waterline somewhere so as to let water in from the outside... is that right? So as to get around the whole burping issue on the Volvo jobby.

 

[pvb]

I think I am a bit confused here. The radice, as far as I know, is fed with water via a hose coming from a seacock.

For slow-speed operation, where the seal is mounted below the waterline, no water feed is required for the Radice seal. A pipe attached to the seal and led to a point some way above the waterline allows any air in the seal to be expelled automatically.

 

[pvb]

As I understand it....... maybe wrong...... the hose is for venting the air and should be led up above the waterline somewhere so as to let water in from the outside... is that right? So as to get around the whole burping issue on the Volvo jobby.

Correct.

 

[macd]

For slow-speed operation, where the seal is mounted below the waterline, no water feed is required for the Radice seal. A pipe attached to the seal and led to a point some way above the waterline allows any air in the seal to be expelled automatically.

That's the case, cmedsailor, beyond a shadow of doubt. Unfortunately, the Eliche Radice website throws up "Oops! The page cannot be found" (in Italian) when asked for the installation instructions. From memory (so no guarantee of complete accuracy), no positive water feed is required for vessels motoring at less than 12kn.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Thanks pvb, does it need any anti siphon on the pipe or anything? Of will the top of cockpit lockers do?

 

[cmedsailor]

http://www.sillette.co.uk/price_pdf_files/deep_sea_mane_craft_shaft_seal.pdf

"Grease lubricated and water fed" is mentioned here. And at the picture below it shows "water" going through the radice shaft seal. This makes it very similar to my volvo seal and the water coming via a seacock at the end of the shaft whose purpose is to circulate the water between cutlass bearing and shaft tube (a common setup on Beneteaus). But you could be right, I am not familiar with the radice seal.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Just a small gloat - my old fashioned packing gland is fine after 28 years! A leak earlier in the year was soon fixed when I figured out how to get spanners on to it to slightly tighten it.

 

[pvb]

Thanks pvb, does it need any anti siphon on the pipe or anything? Of will the top of cockpit lockers do?

No anti-siphon needed; it's just an air vent. The top of the cockpit lockers would be fine.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

No anti-siphon needed; it's just an air vent. The top of the cockpit lockers would be fine.

Cracking, thanks. I'll take her out in October and get her all sorted out.

 

[Tranona]

http://www.sillette.co.uk/price_pdf_files/deep_sea_mane_craft_shaft_seal.pdf

"Grease lubricated and water fed" is mentioned here. And at the picture below it shows "water" going through the radice shaft seal. This makes it very similar to my volvo seal and the water coming via a seacock at the end of the shaft whose purpose is to circulate the water between cutlass bearing and shaft tube (a common setup on Beneteaus). But you could be right, I am not familiar with the radice seal.

Radice actually make the Volvo seal. Their own version is different (and better) so that they can sell independently of Volvo. Beneteau used the water feed because on some models it is very difficult to effectively expel air from the unit and allow water to flow through the stern tube into the bearing. On low speed applications, the positive water flow is not necessary for cooling purposes if you can ensure adequate water from the stern tube. If you used the Radice as a replacement (to get the benefit of easier greasing) you could either connect your existing water pipe to the vent or block it off and just use the vent.

 

[macd]

And at the picture below it shows "water" going through the radice shaft seal.

It shows no such thing. It merely shows a spigot marked "water". And the seal in the drawing is patently not the RMTA one under discussion, anyway, but concerns "Shaft Logs with flexi inboard gland". On low-speed craft there is no flow through the RMTA's "water" spigot beyond the water in the seal and sterntube finding its own level and by doing so obviating the need for 'burping'. There is no need for a seacock to be associated with it, just as is the case with an equivalent Volvo seal.

I am familiar with the Radice RMTA seal.