Dripless Shaft Conversion

[Firepara36]

I have researched a few post of people talking about converting to dripless but would like to hear from anyone who has bit the bullet and did it.

My 2021 31CB is in the shop now being retro fitted. Think my shaft was not alined correctly and was going thru packing material way too fast. Another Ranger Tug in our marina just had this done also due to having a corroded oil pan replaced from the salt from his shaft.
I had a 2016 29s for 4 years and also did not like all the mess in the bilge. It took a lot of effort and anticorrosion spray to keep up with the effects of the salt. Looking thru the prior posts I did see a good suggestion of installing a splash guard to minimize the overspray.

 

[LMRanger]

If any body has done this on a R25SC with the D-3 150 let me know how it went and a few photos would help.

Thank you

Ralph

 

[knotflying]

I don't think what boat model you have matters. As far as cost goes, in the marine world, the cost is not too expensive. The dripless is nice, but shaft alignment, as with any application, is critical. The dripless has a spare bushing which can be used to quickly replace the existing when it wears out. I had put a dripless on my R-27 and in the long run it is easier with regard to maintenance. I could still go with the standard setup though. With a properly aligned shaft the packing should last over 1,000 hours. I replaced my packing at 1,200. Adjustment was marginal over time.

 

[BB marine]

First Measure the clearance that you have.
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After you measure the clearance decide which Dripless seal you want to use. Call the manufacture and find out if they make a seal that will fit in the clearances available.

The seal that Mike is describing is a Tides seal which uses a lip seal. When this seal is installed you can elect to have an additional stand by seal installed on the shaft. If the seal in the gland for any reason fails you can remove it and install the stand by seal while the boat is in the water. Not as safe as a rope packing seal but when in good working order will not leak at all.
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Another type of seal is the PSS (Packless sealing system) This seal is a mechanical seal. This type of seal is used widely in the chemical industry on pumps. It uses a stationary Carbon face rotor and a rotating stainless steel collar. The faces are machined to a zero tolerance flatness and provide the seal. These seals work well but in the event that they fail you must have the boat hauled because they will leak and can not be replaced unless the shaft and coupler are detached from the reverse gear and the coupler is removed from the shaft.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... r4kgdhC7Q3

Alignments are important with any shaft seal. The most forgiving is the rope packing seal, Dripless require a good engine/shaft alignment. The longevity of the dripless seal will be greatly reduced if the alignment is not within.000 to .003. The packing is more forgiving but the cutlass bearing is not. If you have alignment off enough to cause rope packing failure I would be replacincing the cutlass bearing at the same time and then aligning the engine to proper engine to shaft specification of .003 or less.

Keeping the rope packing in good working order requires a good adjustment of the gland. It only requires tightening when there are more than 3 drips a minute with the engine running and in gear. The packing should not leak at all with the engine not running. When adjusting the packing go slow. I make small adjustments. No more than a 1/16th of a turn at a time. I have never moved the nut more than an 1/8th of a turn to get a good adjustment and in 650 hours of running I made three adjustments that totaled 1/4 of a turn. I have seen many people move the nut 1/4 to 1/2 a turn at a time. They removed 100's of hours of run time from the packing. Many use large pipe wrenches to tighten the packing but I found that there is limited room in all the Ranger Tug and Cutwater shaft installations. I made up a couple of plumbers wrenches that I measured and pinned to the exact nut sizes of the gland nut and locking nut. The wrenches are light and easy to get in place for adjustments.
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Remember the packing is leaking when running. It leaks very little but it is salt water and the drip are atomized and cause a fine mist in the compartment this mist will cause rust and corrosion. All that is needed to minimize this and keep the compartment dry and clean fro the salt water deposits is a shells to deflect the mist back down into the bilge.

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I also installed a blower above this area to help keep the compartment cool and remove any moisture. This is a common feature in most cruising boats but Ranger and Cutwater does not feel there is a need for this.