Stuffing Box service

[Tim Porter]

My stuffing box on 2014 Cw 30S is leaking steadily at the slip. Bilge pump kicks in about every 2 hours or so. Dealer was supposed to service stuffing box during commissioning but boat was delivered and obviously stuffing box service was skipped. Dealer will make amends but does boat have to be hauled or can work be done in water? Meanwhile we want to use the boat. Thoughts?

 

[fishheadbarandgrill]

Probably just needs to be tightened... Can be done in the water. No problem.

 

[BB marine]

I would get the stuffing box inspected ASAP. Leaking glands don't get better they get worse if not adjusted properly. The other component to this is a leaking gland at the dock is leaking more when the engine is running and in gear. This leaking water in the form of drips is flung off the shaft and dispersed though out the engine compartment. Salt water spray is not a good product flung around the machinery in the compartment.

A packing inspection and adjustment is part of yearly commissioning. I would question the rest of the commissioning process. Easy fix just get an adjustment made while in the water to see if the integrity of the packing is still good. If not it would require a haul out to replace.

 

[Ralf H]

Hi Tim,

Brian is right. This should be inspected at least annually and checked every time you are out on the boat to ensure the proper drip rate. You can check to see if the gland simply needs to be adjusted to reduce the flow, but with your boat being almost seven years old, the packing material will most likely need to be replenished. Looks like your dealer will take care of that (according to you) but don't hesitate to have them show you how the gland should be adjusted over the life of the material. Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Ralf

 

[sjreib]

Had nothing but problems trying to adjust my stuffing box especially after the whole box shifted 90 degrees and I couldn't get to the adjustment screws properly. Bilge pump ran all night at anchor and woke up to dead house batteries. Decided to take the bull by the horns and install a dripless system. Money well spent.

 

[SJI Sailor]

Similar to sjreib, we had endless trouble when ours was new. Neither we nor dealer technicians could adjust properly (I suspect it was overtightened before delivery or by an early tech).

We tried to get dripless installed, but boatyard claimed it wasn't possible and we ended up repacking with graphite coils. That has been great, no problems since then.

 

[Tim Porter]

Thanks for all the feedback. Great point on all that salt water flying around the machinery. I do inspect engine compartment and notice the water. Packing no doubt needs to be replaced. That will be next challenge as dealer will certainly balk at pulling boat out of water. Stay tuned.

 

[knotflying]

Don't assume packing needs to be replaced. How many hours on the engine? How many times has it been adjusted before? My experience is you should get around 1,000 hours before replacement. You need to loosen the lock nut and then with small increments (like maybe nut turn 1/8 of inch) turn cap nut and see when drip stops when stationary. You should get a drip about every 20 seconds when underway.

 

[Tim Porter]

New to single engine diesel with direct drive and stuffing box. There are only 280 hours on engine which to your point is really low. A marine service technician who adjusted the belt tension said there was only “ 1 wrapped left for adjusting”. I cannot translate that but assumed that simple tightening would not do it.
Thanks for reply. I will posting developments.

 

[knotflying]

Not sure what belt tightening has to do with the stuffing box, unless you mean he happened to look at it. With 280 hours I would suspect there is plenty to adjust. However, someone could have overtightened it in the past and caused it to wear prematurely. I would definitely try to adjust it before replacing it.