Mike on Sea Hustler

OMG that’s what you call well worn, I’m assuming (dangerous thing to do) that when she had some major work done back in2000 they may well have changed the shaft but I’ve no way of knowing that for sure. My flexible coupling is the type that you disturb at your peril apparently so all I did was unbolt the rear flange, work, work, work, bolt it back together. I’m fairly happy that it’s running pretty true, my overall impression is that I over tightened the gland at first and then had to back it off to almost where it had been originally. Got to wait for tomorrow afternoons tide now but will check k a few more things before I have another go, im inclinedtomback the nut off another flat and manage the drip v temp for the rest of this season

Thanks Tony, now that I understand the geometry of the packing gland, I’m confident I could repack it at a future date, when she is out of the water, not something I will attempt while she is afloat. So that’s first winter job lined up and we haven’t even left the marina yet. I’m happy to back the packing nut off another flat if needs be now i know what the leak is all about, I will manage the drip Vs temp until we haul out in November. If it’s a new shaft then I suspect it’s already beyond saving. My biggest concern was did I hear the engine struggle after about five minute in gear, although I’m becoming more familiar with what’s under the cockpit sole, I’m still terrified of doing serious damage by my ignorance. No rev counter means I have to gauge things by ear, im pretty good at that having been on the road for 50 + years but boats…… so much to go wrong, so few indicators. Going to run it up again tomorrow and watch and listen

I think I have one at home courtesy of covid and my job at the time, of course I’m not at home right now so it’s nit much use. I understood it should be about 30 degrees above ambient water temp. I know it’s boiling out here but the sea is nit that hot

I generally don’t use WD 40 for anything but waterproofing cables and lighting fires which is why I also have some American contact cleaner and degreaser AND some corrosion inhibitor all courtesy of the same aircraft engineer Guess so, I’m more concerned now either the temperature of the packing gland and the hesitation imaginary or real after running in gear for about five minutes

Dang no wonder our pot always taste funny

Ok so I’ve stopped the leak, in fact the half turn I put on was too much and it stopped completely, so I backed it off a flat, still no drip at all AND when I first started the engine, the prop wasn’t turning at all. Some will say “well it’s not in gear” but as I explained earlier the prop Did spin before even when I wasn’t I gear, so I’m thinking the nip I had given the packing nut may have just put a little more pressure on the shaft and that’s why it’s nit spinning now. Anyway ran the engine on tick over in forward and watched for any drips, still none, so backed the nut off another flat. I basically did this until it now drips at about one drip every 20 Seconds or so. I know that’s still a little fast BUT after running it in gear for about 5 minutes the packing gland is getting too hot to hold your hand on for more than about 10 seconds or so, about central heating radiator hot and I don’t know if it’s my over active imagination but the engine appeared to struggle for a bit (I instantly knocked it into neautral and the engine ticked over fine. So now I have a 20 second drip which I can live with but did I hear the engine begin to struggle or am I just terrified of doing some serious damage and imagining all sorts of issues that may not exist

It’s called Aerokroil and was given to me by a friend that spent his life rescuing broken down Boeing 747s from around the world. It’s not available in the UK but yoh May be able to get it online somewhere. It’s called Aerokroil and was given to me by a friend that spent his life rescuing broken down Boeing 747s from around the world. It’s not available in the UK but yoh May be able to get it online somewhere. So Dave arrived and we put a magnetic dial gauge on both flanges of the coupling and shaft and bingo, both are turning concentrically both within 5 thou. So well done me and a massive thanks to all that helped with good advice. Sitting here waiting on the flood tide so that I can run this engine up and see if I have managed the leak, ooooow the anticipation

Job done, gave the thread a squirt with some aviation creeping oil (American, brilliant stuff beats WD40 any day,) had breakfast, then head down with the grease goblins, tapped the locking nut off and with a pair of very old footprint wrenches that I rescued from the rubbish over 50 years ago,( they may be old but they are the best tool in my box, Knock spots off any modern equivalent wrench I have tried) tightened up the pack nut half a turn, nipped up the lock nut. Turns out that what I have here is (starting at the back) the packing gland body threaded, a lock nut as normal and the pack nut which is simply the remainder of the fitting with a hex section in the centre. Like all packing glands it’s just two pieces but designed by the scary boaty Gods to make it look more complicated than it really is. Now just waiting for the tide to return before I give it a spin and see if the leak has reduced from 30 drips per minute to about 2. While I wait Dave is coming down and we are going to put a dial gauge on the coupling just to see if I got it as close to 0.005 as I thought I had thanks again for all the advice

Just had a visit from the guy that owned one of these boats before he came armed with an iPad and some images of something very similar to what lurks beneath the sole on my boat. I shall tentatively crack that Lock nut tomorrow and see what we can find. Although not your standard packing gland, it appears mine is not so unusual for its time

All sound advice as usual, everyone I have spoken to does the ‘kick the tyres and suck the teeth thing’ except my friend at Chertsey Marine and he seems to think it’s all pretty straightforward, when asked about the somewhat unusual gland, he wasn’t at all phased. I will take your advice and arm myself with a few bungs from the ‘bung box’ plenty of rags and a certain amount of false courage tomorrow just as soon as the tide drops her on the mud and crack that locking nut, if i take it one step at a time, I can always stop at a safe point and regroup

Done a tour of the yard speaking to anybody I passed including the elderly chap that owned a derivative of this boat many years ago, no one has ever seen a packing gland like this before. Can’t get onto YBW forum because I can’t remember my password and can’t get email on my phone. But I did call my friend at Chertsey Marine and he seemed quite confident that this was nothing unusual and it just consists of a locking nut (albeit a somewhat over sized one) and a packing nut. So the procedure according to him is the normal ‘back off the lock nut, screw in the packing nut, rinse and repeat until desired result’ so I shall wait until low water tomorrow and give it a go.

Would you just know that I would have to have something out of the ordinary, I agree with Tony that if that front section is where the packing is, there is not a lot of room to it and given that this is a pet of the boat that isn’t subject to the wife’s cleaning cloths, there is so much crud around it’s impossible to tell what’s what. I will try on the YBW forum and see if anyone there can help. There is also a elderly guy in the marina who had a variant of this boat many years ago, we’ve been chatting and I think I will have a word with him and see if he knows anything. I’m not going to do anything until as Tony says, I know what the heck I’m dealing with

About the best I can get it, question then is which bit backs of which

Ok thanks for that, I have tried getting down there with a wire brush but it’s a long way down and the thread is somewhat recessed beyond the depth of my brush, I’ve tried a knife blade but that wasn’t very successful. I get your point, I assume some sort of flange would be beneath that fibreglass, guess I need to keep trying because you’re right, the thread is none to clean and it’s not soft material either

Good Afternoon Peeps, so here I am again with my head down amongst the grease goblins, trying to work out how to nip this stuffing box up half a turn. So of course I have viewed every possible type of packing gland on T’internet but mine has to be different. I get that the lock nut (nearest the cutlass bearing) has to be backed off and the packing nut screwed down to it half a turn. What im unsure of is which part is locking nut, which part is body of the fitting, where should I place the drift before trying to crack the nut. Has anyone seen a packing gland like this before and does anyone have any advice. Im waiting on a chain wrench from Toolstation ( everywhere was next day delivery as if it’s an offensive weapon) which arrives tomorrow which is when I will attack this properly but some help with what to hit would be useful hang on picture to follow some tech issues Hope that’s clear enough