Stern gland leak

[Paolo Reale]

Recently posted about a slight leak from my water cooled stern gland. We're currently 2 weeks into a 5 week trip. I've put in more k99 in the hope that might solve it, but to no avail. Difficult question, but would it be ok to continue like this for the reminder of the trip, or do I need to get it looked at? Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

[bizzard]

12 minutes ago, Paolo Reale said:

Recently posted about a slight leak from my water cooled stern gland. We're currently 2 weeks into a 5 week trip. I've put in more k99 in the hope that might solve it, but to no avail. Difficult question, but would it be ok to continue like this for the reminder of the trip, or do I need to get it looked at? Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

K9 Not good if you have a rubber cutless tube bearing. Sillycon grease is needed.

Edited July 10, 2019 by bizzard

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Paolo Reale said:

Recently posted about a slight leak from my water cooled stern gland. We're currently 2 weeks into a 5 week trip. I've put in more k99 in the hope that might solve it, but to no avail. Difficult question, but would it be ok to continue like this for the reminder of the trip, or do I need to get it looked at? Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

We went from the north right down onto the Thames when our stern gland (Vetus water cooled) was leaking quite badly. We had an automatic bilge pump so no real problem, but if it is only a drip or two it should last. Put some of the gunge around the shaft in front of the seal too and get as much in as you can with a syringe whilst turning the shaft by hand. (I assume K99 is silicone?) I found our was much worse when reverse was engaged. 
ps one of your engine mounts isn't loose per chance? Mine once leaked badly when this happened, and the engine had dropped a bit.

[NB Lola]

So, would be good to share the detail about your stern gland.  Ours leaks constantly and is expected.  We tighten the bolts to compress the lagging/packing material on occasion but leaking is part of the process to maintain a cooled stern tube.  When we finish for the night I always give it a couple of turns.  This I have done for ten years without problem.  When we leave the boat it gets a little extra grease but to be honest the bilge pump is there to do its job.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, NB Lola said:

So, would be good to share the detail about your stern gland.  Ours leaks constantly and is expected.  We tighten the bolts to compress the lagging/packing material on occasion but leaking is part of the process to maintain a cooled stern tube.  When we finish for the night I always give it a couple of turns.  This I have done for ten years without problem.  When we leave the boat it gets a little extra grease but to be honest the bilge pump is there to do its job.

Just thinking on similar lines. When watercooled was mentioned, I assumed something like a Volvo/Radice/Vetus unit, but this could be wrong.

Any chance of a pic or name of unit?

[Dr Bob]

I think all the details were in the other thread over the weekend.

[Paolo Reale]

Thanks to you all for such a quick response. Concerned that I was advised by a chandlers to use K9. I assumed this was sylicon, but obviously not. Will the K9 do any damage?

[Boater Sam]

2 minutes ago, Paolo Reale said:

Thanks to you all for such a quick response. Concerned that I was advised by a chandlers to use K9. I assumed this was sylicon, but obviously not. Will the K9 do any damage?

It may, depends on what rubber it is made from. Nitrile will stand mineral oil based grease OK. Chances are that it is oil resistant rubber anyway.

They probably specify silicone lube for its water proof property.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Paolo Reale said:

Thanks to you all for such a quick response. Concerned that I was advised by a chandlers to use K9. I assumed this was sylicon, but obviously not. Will the K9 do any damage?

If it is one of the Volvo/ Vetus/Radice or similar water cooled and flexible type of seals, you want only silcione grease in there, and nothing else. Plumbers merchants sell it in small pots for lubricating sanitary fittings. If you have mistakenly put something other than silicone in there, I would be tempted to buy some THICK silicone grease, and get as much in there as you can with a syringe. Keep turning the shaft by hand as you pump some in. Hopefully it will expel at least some of the incorrect stuff.
Do you know the make of the seal and/or do you have a picture of it or a similar one?

4 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

It may, depends on what rubber it is made from. Nitrile will stand mineral oil based grease OK. Chances are that it is oil resistant rubber anyway.

They probably specify silicone lube for its water proof property.

The newer type Vetus appear to use a standard oil seal so possibly OK. Not sure about a cutless bearing though which are often fitted in conjunction with these?

Edited July 10, 2019 by Guest

[Paolo Reale]

Thanks. I attach a couple of photos, one of the flexible bearing and the other showing how much drips out after a day chugging. Any further thoughts would be welcomed. Sorry about the quality of pics! 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Paolo Reale said:

Thanks. I attach a couple of photos, one of the flexible bearing and the other showing how much drips out after a day chugging. Any further thoughts would be welcomed. Sorry about the quality of pics! 

That is a Vetus and wants only Silicone grease.
I would wipe the surplus stuff off the shaft and pump as much silicone in through the allen screw hole as you can with a syringe. Keep doing this and it should expel all of the "wrong" grease. The Volvo silicone grease is blue,and if you can get hold of this you will see the change in colour as it emerges from the seals. There isn't a huge amount of grease in there so it should get flushed out quite quickly. You can dismantle and clean it but not a good idea afloat unless you have done it before!

Edited July 10, 2019 by Guest
fat fingers

[Paolo Reale]

This is really helpful Catweasle. I'll get some silicone grease tomorrow and start the process of flushing out the K99. Would you suggest l do this for a few mornings in a row until the the"white" coloured stuff stops coming through?

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Paolo Reale said:

This is really helpful Catweasle. I'll get some silicone grease tomorrow and start the process of flushing out the K99. Would you suggest l do this for a few mornings in a row until the the"white" coloured stuff stops coming through?

Sounds like a good idea to flush some through every morning-easy with a syringe from a chemist shop. When we went on a long trip with a very Leaky Vetus unit, I packed loads of silicone grease in every morning. It certainly helped. Of course if the "wrong" stuff comes out and it still leaks with silicone, then further attention is needed. The Vetus unit on mine was quite worn after about 11 years fairly hard use (in fairnress upon removing it, it turned out that it hadn't been installed properly.)
I highly recommend that you check that all engine mounts are tight; this caused problems with mine.

My experiences here: http://destinynarrowboat.weebly.com/vetus.html

Edited July 10, 2019 by Guest

[Paolo Reale]

Thanks again. I'll check engine mountings in the morning. I assume these are the"feet" on which the engine is bolted to the hull?

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Paolo Reale said:

Thanks again. I'll check engine mountings in the morning. I assume these are the"feet" on which the engine is bolted to the hull?

Yes. If they are like mine there are two large nuts at the top. The lower nuts had worked loose and caused the engine to drop a few mm.
I'll try and find a pic shortly.

[ditchcrawler]

5 minutes ago, Paolo Reale said:

Thanks again. I'll check engine mountings in the morning. I assume these are the"feet" on which the engine is bolted to the hull?

Please do go adjusting them, you will have more problems. Just look at them and report back if anything is lose.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

Please do go adjusting them, you will have more problems. Just look at them and report back if anything is lose.

Fair point.

 

[Paolo Reale]

Great, that would be really helpful. It's been a real education communicating with you. As a new narrow boat owner, Canal world is proving invaluable!

[Guest]

Something like this. The green arrow I have drawn shows the lower nut that had come loose. As Ditchcrawler rightly says, if anything is loose, best to report back for further advice.

 

 

[Drayke]

I have the vetus water cooled stern gland on my boat, you can put to much silicon grease into it i managed to pop out the seal that you can see inside the engine room. so be careful.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, F DRAYKE said:

I have the vetus water cooled stern gland on my boat, you can put to much silicon grease into it i managed to pop out the seal that you can see inside the engine room. so be careful.

Interesting. I am guessing that will be the mk2 type that used two separate oil seals? The earlier (better IMHO) type had a seal that looked for all the world like a miniature go kart tyre and was moulded in one piece and bonded within the brass housing.

[bizzard]

If the nuts underneath the engines feet have come loose and wound down, wind em back up and tighten. On no account mess with nuts on top or it WILL be out of alignment.

[Guest]

Just now, bizzard said:

If the nuts underneath the engines feet have come loose and wound down, wind em back up and tighten. On no account mess with nuts on top or it WILL be out of alignment.

Indeed. One ex member broke an engine mount that way.

[Paolo Reale]

Great. Thanks again, really sound advice.

[Paolo Reale]

Because of the recent posts about engine mountings, I decided I couldn't wait until the morning and have just checked them, much to the annoyance of my wife who's reading on bed, just feet from the engine! Anyway, the mountings appear really solid, so at least that's one thing I don't have to worry about. Thanks again to all who responded to my post.