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Stern Gland Packing?

MunkeyBoy

By MunkeyBoy
in Boat Building & Maintenance

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MunkeyBoy

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Hi my stern gland keeps dripping on the boat I have recently bought and I've noticed while tightening it up there is no packing which may be why it wont stop dripping.

Where do I get this packing from and can I do this job on the water without sinking the boat?

thanks.

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The Bagdad Boatman (waits) Rising Star

The Bagdad Boatman (waits)

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There should be a grease pump which you tighten to force grease into the gland. if it is empty refill with proper waterproof grease ordinary grease will not do.

Buy the gland packing rope from a chandlers either cut it into short loops to pack in about 4 rings (some slice a shamfer at the ends) or wrap the packing rope round the shaft 3 or four times. when you loosen the packing screw water will flow but not much, you can hook out the old packing. Tighten up the packing screw ring and pump grease until it oozes out.

 

http://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Sternglands.aspx

Edited by The Bagdad Boatman (waits)
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matty40s Veteran II

matty40s

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Yes, you can do it in the water.

There are 3 different thicknesses of packing rope normally available and if you measure your prop shaft diameter, a chandlery will be able to sell you enough of the right thickness.

This will come in a single length, and you will need to cut it into 3 rings to fit into stern gland. Cut the rings before you take off the outer collar so everything is ready to go in. Make sure all remaing packing is removed ( use a long wood screw if you dont have anything else) then push the rings in one by one. Where two ends of the rings meet, put the first one at the 12 o clock position, the second at 4 o clock, and the third at 8 o clock. ( this is the same position in summer and winter before somw clever cloggs comes along). Then slowly push the collar back in, tightening up so the prop shaft can still rotate by hand.

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nicknorman Veteran II

nicknormanDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hi my stern gland keeps dripping on the boat I have recently bought and I've noticed while tightening it up there is no packing which may be why it wont stop dripping.

Where do I get this packing from and can I do this job on the water without sinking the boat?

thanks.

How do you know there is no packing? I would expect that a stern gland, that is designed to have packing, would do a lot more than just drip if there was no packing. If you have tightened the collar up until it will go no further, this may mean that the packing is excessively worn in which case yes it needs to be replaced, but try to remove the old packing first.

 

Presumably you are confident that it is not a cutlass /water lubricated type?

 

Ed: ie looks like Laurie's pic?

Edited by nicknorman
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bizzard Veteran II

bizzard

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If it doesn't have the pusher that's drawn in by two studs and nuts then it will be either a cutless water lubed type tube with three or four Allen socket screws holding the seal cover plate on. Or it could be the gland packing type that the pusher is a large diameter gland nut pusher that screws directly onto the tube locked off by a big nut behind it, this type will also have a greaser.

Edited by bizzard
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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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That is a conventional gland, that should have packing between the moving part and the fixed part. Typically about 3 rings will fit.

 

Yours appears to be adjusted down as tight as it will go, (hard to tell from all that grease if there is still a fraction of movement left!).

I suspect if it is not leaking like a total sieve there will be at least some packing in there, even if badly compressed and/or damaged.

 

Almost certainly it needs any existing dragged out, and replaced with some pre-cut new rings.

 

The concern I would have is that extra bearing behind it is not going to leave you a lot of margin for drawing the moving part back off its studs, and actually accessing the gap between fixed part and shaft to use whatever means to drag any old packing out.

 

EDIT:

 

Depending on whether that extra bearing is just providing support, or is actually some kind of thrust bearing, it might be possible that it can be unbolted from its mounting, and temporarily slid forwards, to give more space to drag the movable part of the stern gear forward along the shaft well clear of the studs. Hard to say under all that grease, but it may be possible to increase the space you have to get at the bit likely to contain some life expired packing.

I stress "might" and "may" though - it may equally well not prove possible!

Edited by alan_fincher
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MunkeyBoy Collaborator

MunkeyBoy

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Thanks for the replies and confirming that.

Is there anyone who can do this for me on the Peak Forest canal as I'M a bit worried or is there a temporary measure to stop the dripping as I'm having to pump out every 2 days?

I'M a bit miffed the boat yard I bought the boat from didn't give me a heads up about this despite paying them to service the engine while it was out of the water!

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nicknorman Veteran II

nicknormanDonate to Canal World

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I'M a bit miffed the boat yard I bought the boat from didn't give me a heads up about this despite paying them to service the engine while it was out of the water!

I would be miffed too. Whilst it a be done in the water, it's obviously much easier to do when out of the water. But unfortunately that is boat yards for you. You can rarely rely on them to do the right thing. You have to take responsibility for the health of your boat and that is tricky when it is all new to you.

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Neil2 Veteran

Neil2

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It would be interesting to know what is forward of that thrust bearing, it looks to me like there's no room to get the pusher off as it stands.

 

I suspect the reason the "boat yard" let you take the boat away in that state is because it isn't that straightforward a job to get at the stern gland, not as straightforward as it should be anyway.

 

Worth having a word with the guys at TW Marine http://www.twmarine.co.uk/index.htm they are at Furness Vale on the Peak Forest.

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Ray T Veteran II

Ray TDonate to Canal World

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For new gland packing you don't have to rely on a chandler, Cromwell Tools have lots:

 

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/index.php?search_all=gland+packing&p=advancedsearch&q=0&search.x=32&search.y=4

 

ETA on re reading they may only sell reels of the stuff.

 

Also, they sell rather nifty removal tools:

VCT7264100A_0.jpg

 

 

 

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/VCT7264100A

Edited by Ray T
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David Mack Veteran II

David MackDonate to Canal World

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That is a conventional stern tube. The pusher is right home, no more adjustment indicating that there is probably no packing left in. It needs repacking immediately.

 

The pusher is so far in that I would have thought it a fair bet that it has been assembled without any packing, and has relied on just the grease to keep the water out(ish).

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