Crack in brass stern gland greaser

[LoganHarrow]

Hello. 
 

I’ve noticed that I’ve got a small crack in my stern gland greaser tube.

 

I was refilling the grease and as I was turning the greaser, I noticed the grease was escaping through a small crack in the tube!

 

Any DIY fixes? Or should I just replace it? If so, any advice on where is best? eBay?

 

Any advice welcome, thanks!

[BEngo]

I assume the crack is in the big brass cylinder of the greaser. If not just part  replace the bit of pipe which has  cracked.

 

If the crack is into the threads at the top or  bottom of the cylinder,  forget it. 

Other wise, the crack is full of grease, so brazing or soldering it up directly is likely to be difficult.

 You could try drilling a hole at either end of the crack, to stop it getting bigger and then brazing or sweating a patch over the outside.

Only someone like me would bother.

Much easier to buy a new greaser.

 

Any of the chandlers, or take a risk with some online cheapo sold by a  bandit.

 

N

[magnetman]

If it is a tiny amount I'd be tempted to put a jubilee clip over it or even better a T bolt clamp. Stainless and the right size obviously !

[Tigerr]

Jubilee clip will do good temporary fix. Winding it tight with gaffer or leak tape? 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Tigerr

[magnetman]

I never thought about it before. One of my boats has 4 remote greasers (rudders and starn tubes) the other has only one but is it possible to just buy the tube part or do you have to get the whole shebang? 

 

I imagine the latter but never checked. 

 

The bit which has split is just a thin walled brass tube with threads on both ends. Someone might be selling just that bit. 

[ditchcrawler]

I have never seen the bits for sale, I just bought a new one 

[Wanderer Vagabond]

Just out of curiosity, I'd be interested just how it has come to crack. You don't need to put that much pressure on the greasing tube, do you?

[magnetman]

Maybe when it was removed someone dropped it due to handling problems related to it being a bit greasy. 

 

It depends on how you approach the activity. I unscrew the whole thing, fill it with grease, wind out the screw then refit it. So there is a chance of dropping the thing because of the disassembly. 

 

Maybe others do it differently. 

 

 

[BEngo]

2 hours ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Just out of curiosity, I'd be interested just how it has come to crack. You don't need to put that much pressure on the greasing tube, do you?

Cracks in drawn  brass tube are commonly stress corrosion.  All sorts of triggers cause failure along the grain boundaries and the remaining stress from drawing the tube does the rest.  I have seen a demo where the end inch or so of a piece of drawn brass tube was dipped in a weak ammonia solution.  It opened up like a flower for about 6 inches.

 N

 

[Ken X]

The moral being, stop weeing on your stern gland greaser. 😄

[cuthound]

Saw the thread title and assumed someone was using their boat to smuggle drugs and trying to find the best place to hide them...

 

[magnetman]

The weed hatch is the best place to hide the gear. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

9 minutes ago, magnetman said:

The weed hatch is the best place to hide the gear. 

Bow thruster tube. It's why boaters with bow thrusters appear much better off than others.

[LoganHarrow]

17 hours ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Just out of curiosity, I'd be interested just how it has come to crack. You don't need to put that much pressure on the greasing tube, do you?

Apparently it can crack over time with the cold

[magnetman]

 

 

I know someone who kept his stash of grass in a gearbox. 

[LoganHarrow]

19 hours ago, BEngo said:

I assume the crack is in the big brass cylinder of the greaser. If not just part  replace the bit of pipe which has  cracked.

 

If the crack is into the threads at the top or  bottom of the cylinder,  forget it. 

Other wise, the crack is full of grease, so brazing or soldering it up directly is likely to be difficult.

 You could try drilling a hole at either end of the crack, to stop it getting bigger and then brazing or sweating a patch over the outside.

Only someone like me would bother.

Much easier to buy a new greaser.

 

Any of the chandlers, or take a risk with some online cheapo sold by a  bandit.

 

N

It’s a small crack in the tube. Might just buy a new one

[Tony Brooks]

Solder a patch of shim brass over the crack?

[Tracy D'arth]

For the love of Mike, just buy a new one and stop fretting!

[ditchcrawler]

[Bee]

Do you mean the greaser barrel or the pipe to the stern gland? Any hydraulic place will sell you a bit of pipe and a couple of olives, try Pirtek. If its the barrel of the greaser just buy another greaser.

[magnetman]

Pretty sure its the barrel. The copper pipe is soft so unlikely to crack but as someone mentioned above the tube part is drawn brass with locked in stress so very likely to crack. 

 

I wonder if someone undid it with a stillsons too enthusiastically once resulting in the crack as it was squeezed. 

[Alan de Enfield]

40 minutes ago, magnetman said:

The copper pipe is soft so unlikely to crack

 

I don't think I've ever had a boat with copper pipe - its always been a Nylon pipe (typical car brake pipe stuff)

[magnetman]

Both of my boats have copper pipe between the remote greasers and the stern glands/rudder bearings. 

 

My previous boat also had copper but that was because I replaced the nylon tube with copper. 

Just checked and the rudder bearings are actually done with iron fittings but the stern tubes are done with copper. This is on the twin engine twin rudder boat. 

 

 

The other boat is a canal launch and just has a single stern tube with a remote greaser with copper pipe. 

 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

4 hours ago, magnetman said:

Both of my boats have copper pipe between the remote greasers and the stern glands/rudder bearings. 

 

My previous boat also had copper but that was because I replaced the nylon tube with copper. 

Just checked and the rudder bearings are actually done with iron fittings but the stern tubes are done with copper. This is on the twin engine twin rudder boat. 

 

 

The other boat is a canal launch and just has a single stern tube with a remote greaser with copper pipe. 

 

 

What is that terrible wiring in the 13A socket !?

[magnetman]

4 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

What is that terrible wiring in the 13A socket !?

It isn't a 13 amp socket it is a 5amp socket as you can see from the round pins. That is a 12v dc outlet which is fused and the terrible wiring was a way to invite criticism and is not connected to anything..

 

 

It was originally a feed in to the batteries from a small wind turbine which I added. Nothing dodgy about it but its not part of the original build of the boat. Being wired and fused for 10 amps it was not a problem to do this and better than adding extra wiring.