Sealed stern gland vs traditional stern gland greaser

[blackrose]

15 minutes ago, Bargebuilder said:

There really isn't anything to fail and over the years it will be much cheaper than any 'dripless' seal.

 

How cheap does it need to be? In 18 years I've spent about a fiver on silicone grease for my vetus gland. I thought I was a miser but when I read some posts on this canal forum it puts things into perspective.

Edited June 24, 2023 by blackrose

[Tony Brooks]

In my view, the only thing that made a dripless gland viable in many boats was the advent of clamp on half couplings rather than shrunk on ones. Shrunk on were a beast to get off the shaft, and often it was easier to take the engine out and extract the shaft forwards. Pulling the half coupling off often damaged the shaft and almost always ensured it would never fit tightly again.

[Bargebuilder]

4 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

How cheap does it need to be? In 18 years I've spent about a fiver on silicone grease for my vetus gland. I thought I was a miser but when I read some posts on this canal forum it puts things into perspective.

 

If one replaces the Volvo seal at the recommended interval - if only to ensure that a potential insurance claim is paid out in the case of failure - then the saving over a Volvo seal could be many hundreds of pounds over the lifetime of a stuffing box.

 

Of course many people are happy with their dripless seals, but the stuffing box itself will probably outlive the narrowboat, is a simple and cheap diy job to maintain, will still work successfully on a worn shaft and there are no lip seals or bearings to wear or fail.

 

A friend of mine had a PSS seal that caused serious crevice erosion of the stainless shaft from the deoxygenated water trapped after an extended period of boat inactivity. 

 

I reiterate, dripless seals work well for many, but for many others, stuffing boxes are still the best option.

 

- 

[IanD]

2 hours ago, Bargebuilder said:

 

If one replaces the Volvo seal at the recommended interval - if only to ensure that a potential insurance claim is paid out in the case of failure - then the saving over a Volvo seal could be many hundreds of pounds over the lifetime of a stuffing box.

 

Of course many people are happy with their dripless seals, but the stuffing box itself will probably outlive the narrowboat, is a simple and cheap diy job to maintain, will still work successfully on a worn shaft and there are no lip seals or bearings to wear or fail.

 

A friend of mine had a PSS seal that caused serious crevice erosion of the stainless shaft from the deoxygenated water trapped after an extended period of boat inactivity. 

 

I reiterate, dripless seals work well for many, but for many others, stuffing boxes are still the best option.

 

 

Of course the last line could also be written the other way round by people who haven't had your bad experience... 😉

 

As usual with boats (stern types, engines, toilets, heating, layout...) there's no one "right" answer for everyone, both have their advantages and disadvantages, and both are perfectly valid choices depending on your personal priorities 🙂

Edited June 24, 2023 by IanD