Waterlogged Nightmare: How NOT To Repack Your Stuffing Box

Waterlogged Nightmare: How NOT To Repack Your Stuffing Box | SV Ramble On

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4 жыл бұрын

Every time we run the motor our bilge pump runs more than usual for a few days afterwards. We've tightened the stuffing box a few times and we could probably continue to adjust it repeatedly until it bottoms out, but instead we decided to repack it. We used Gore GFO shaft packing material we bought on Amazon. This project didn't go quite as planned as you'll see.
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Opening Music: Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions - Feel The Funk

Пікірлер: 31

@dsanderson6949 3 жыл бұрын

It's good to watch a real boater doing it with real troubles rather than some fella on a bench in a warehouse. Thanks for sharing this with us.

@svrambleon 3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

@ketchingmy2ndwindonsvchops459 Жыл бұрын

Great cliff hanger!!! I couldn’t wait to see part 2!! 🧐😬😳😎🤙

@darrenjordan2459 3 жыл бұрын

Honestly the best video I've seen in a while. Was thinking of doing this myself and this did everything to dissuade me. THANKS!

@svrambleon 2 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful for you!

@guineapigzed 4 жыл бұрын

Best show I’ve ever seen. I repacked mine, hardly hard any water Come in.

@simonroyle2806 5 ай бұрын

In my 20s I had a new narrowboat shell (in the UK) built which I lived on and fitted out. When I bought it I couldnt afford the prop shaft so just had the stern tube fitted and then hammered some wood in from the inside to block it. Later on I got the propshaft and had a prop machined on, we hung it on some rope and sledge hammered it in from the outside forcing the wood out. So had that initial leaking drama but I dont recall any issues getting the stuffing to seal it. I had the boat 5 years afterwards and it didnt leak a drop.

@glenphillips7222 Жыл бұрын

Way too much drama for me! Thanks for reminding me why I've always been petrified of repacking in the water. Great channel!

@svrambleon Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching Glen.

@cosmalas7742 2 жыл бұрын

That's enough excitement for one day for me...... you have completely put me off re packing mine. Strangely your sailing boat has a similar set up as my canal boat, except for the "redundant" bilge pumps

@phallo153 4 жыл бұрын

I kept one of those metal hanging vegetable baskets on my boat just for adding zincs underwater... hooked it onto the shaft so the basket would catch the half of the zinc I'd inevitably drop :)

@svrambleon 4 жыл бұрын

I like that, that's a great idea!!

@audentesfortunailuvat 2 жыл бұрын

"I can't get it stop..." dear lord what a conundrum!

@markbuskens6070 9 ай бұрын

That was good entertainment and a lil comedy 😂😂.First mistake was ordering the black packing,second you know it took 1/4 but you cautiously ordered 3/16???????why???Third you don’t take it all out especially if it has 7 pieces!!4 is there is a scoop on the outside to let water in you didn’t plug that.5 you aways get 2 sizes of packing if you’re not sure what size to get.I would say the only thing you did correctly was removing the old packing but you screwed that up by taking it all out 😮So you did get the title for this video right 😂😂I’m still laughing 😆 🤣🤣🤣

@theislandpackrat 4 жыл бұрын

I would have just did 4 of them then the others would still work if there big enough. The first boat I had back in the 70's I forgot to pack it till it was in the water and no packing so I used the seam on the bottom of a tee-shirt wrapped it around four times then did it again, Worked great still in the boat four years later when I sold it! It looked like yours was to small or won't compress enough!

@svrambleon 4 жыл бұрын

Yep, the 3/16" material was too small and had to order 1 size larger.

@tjruiall 10 ай бұрын

Actually if had gotten the correct size that it calls for it would have been just fine. You can’t cheat the boat !! The waters will win every time

@svlonestar7645 3 жыл бұрын

I get it thanks

@bajatrawler7325 4 жыл бұрын

Rich, couldn't tell from the video, but do you have intake holes on the forward end of the cutlass bearing housing? My bearing housing has 2 of the these holes, on opposite sides, each about 1/2" square, where water is sucked into the housing due to forward motion. Probably to provide flow through the bearing. Plugging those holes would stop water ingress.

@svrambleon 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Baja. I looked back at our old haul-out pics and video and couldn't see any weep holes on the bearing housing, and don't remember seeing or feeling any when I was down there with a snorkel. Doesn't mean they're not there though. I need to give this bottom a good scrubbing anyway, so I'll give a look-see when I'm down there.

@murphmurph2124 Жыл бұрын

Scary

@MichaelMechsner 4 жыл бұрын

You may have explained this, but why did you decide to replace the stuffing (it looked like it was holding out the water) while the boat was in the water, rather than on your next haul out?

@svrambleon 4 жыл бұрын

Yeah, Jeni wrote it in the description. Every time we motor, the stuffing box leaks more than it should and I have to keep tightening it down more than the last time to control the drip. The stuffing box was also running hotter than it should under normal drip rate, which is an indicator that the packing material is past its prime. At some point I was going to run out of adjustment depth on the collar, and we're not planning to haul-out again until this time next year.

@MichaelMechsner 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the quick reply! Looking forward to the continued saga!

@matthewbowman9153 2 жыл бұрын

You didn't put enough packing back in, the metal piece that forces them in should be away from the gland so in future you can retighten it to stop any leaks.

@willrupley2253 2 жыл бұрын

WARNING ! DO NOT USE GRAPHITE PACKING . . This is from both Sail magazine book "Boat Works" and Nigel Calder "Mechanical and Electrical Manual . The reason is that Graphite is at the top of the Galvanic scale . This will cause corrosion in adjacent metal when in saltwater . I found Graphite packing in my my Tayana 37 and corrosion on the shaft is apparent . I have seen Graphite recommended on other KZfaq videos . Nigel Calder recommends a drip-free packing called PTFE made of shredded Teflon. It's a clay like material that you use between the standard packing rings . I have not tried this myself but I will the next time I haul out . I'm not brave enough to do it in the water .

@svrambleon 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Will. It looks like we may need to pull the shaft and get a longer one fabricated when we re-power with the new Beta 43, so I'll definitely look into the PTFE stuffing.

@stevengross4113 Жыл бұрын

WARNING! do not use graphite due to galvanic corrosion

@svrambleon Жыл бұрын

That’s an interesting theory we’re still researching, but we packed the stuffing box with GFO 3 years ago, and when we took our shaft to Bay Propeller this April they said we were good to go for many years to come. Guess it all depends on your bonding system.