DRIPLESS SHAFT LOGS

[Craig Mac]

My buddy is replacing his dripless logs---what is the brand of choice these days?

[Snipe]

I went with the https://store.pyiinc.com/collections/ps ... haft-seals
The pro ones have silicone hose and replacement recommended replacement is 8yrs instead of 5yrs.

[Rawleigh]

I concur!

[Snipe]

I also forgot it comes with the retainer clamp so it can’t slip. If you look forward towards the transmission in the front of the seal you can see it.

[Tony Meola]

I went against the grain and went with the Tides.

https://www.tidesmarine.com/sureseal/overview

Put an extra seal carrier on the shaft and no need to pull the boat should you need to replace the seal. In fact, if you are offshore and she starts to leak, just remove the old seal and slide the new one in place.

Based on a recommendation from the diesel mechanic, I put added an extra seal to each carrier so there are two seals so need need to pull the shaft for at least 15 years.

[Carl]

this is not here

[Carl]

I went against the grain and went with the Tides.

Tony talked me into this one...it is a great design so all he had to do is explain and show it to me. Although I'm a little pissed now that I see his attachment has a Red Hat...I didn't get one of those. I'm not even sure what it's for. Super simple with a backup built in.

Funny thing...I'm a dealer...or was for PYI. They were the best dripless design in my opinion...but I still didn't want to go dripless over old school flax till I saw the Tides.

[Snipe]

Carl I like the tides seal a well it is nice that it has a extra seal on the shaft. I was close to going with traditional and flax packing. Wit all the new packing you can get them to a really slow drip when adjusted properly. My buddy has a Cabo and their packing gland it has a grease fitting so you can pump grease in to stop a slow leak and if the seal goes you can put packing in it.

[Carl]

Jason-

I am a fan of the truly simple and reliable old fashion flax packing gland with flax rope. I know some of the additives types can be snugged up offering almost zero drip. I'm ok with a drip...it never bothered me. Some of the additives have had an adverse effect on shafts, Teflon can cut into the SS shaft, graphite I've heard can cause corrosion...either way flax and rope I like, let it drip.

BUT then I went with the fiberglass shaft log that extended a bit beyond the hull bottom. Over 12 knots that extension is said not to allow cooling water into the gland, or a vacuum is created in either case the end result is the gland does not have water to lubricate causing it to overheat. The way around that is to inject water into the gland.
One of my main objections to dripless is the need for water injection. If a water line gets clogged, your gland overheats causing bad things to happen. So now that I created a problem requiring water injection I figured stop the drip and went to the least complicated, simplest design dripless.

Grease packing is great provided it don't escape, lots of'em used in commercial applications, I didn't know Cabo used them. I'm also not a fan of grease. I hate the stuff ever since I helped my dad grease the outdrive many many years ago as a kid. Waterproof grease...I was holding the tube for my dad, being cold out I put my hands in my pocket...with open tube. This was in my nylon jacket pocket, of course, some oozed out. That stuff never washed out of my pocket, no matter how many times my mon tried. Each time I wore that jacket grease...and waterproof grease is super sticky and tacky so that stuff wouldn't wash off my hands.

[Tony Meola]

Carl

I did not notice the red hat. Said it is for installation, so I guess yours is in wrong. LOL

[Sheer Folly]

My 1988 Bertram33 FBC had the standard stuffing box when I bought it in 2004, I replaced the flax packing about 3 yrs later with Gortex packing and just last month replaced it with Gortex again.

Most of the rings of packing looked like the day I put them in and I had kept them adjusted for no drip for all of those 14 yrs.

Richard

[Tony Meola]

Richard

When I originally repowered I kept the standard stuffing box and used Gortex also. Problme I had was I was always eating up the packing. Had to replace it every year. Drip no drip did not matter.

So I changed over to the Tides system.

[Sheer Folly]

Tony,

I’m on the boat at the dock most afternoons during the week and go a short distance to a cove mooring for an overnight most weekends. Also Make a few weekend trips to ports along the Long Island and Connecticut shores.

Really don’t put many running hours on the boat, that must by why the difference.

Richard

[Tony Meola]

Richard

When I still had the gas engines, the Gortex packing lasted for years. It was some thing with the way the new set up was done. Not sure if the new shaft log was off a degree or two or not but the dripless seem to have solved the problem.

[Carl]

Tony- The 1st ring of your packing gland had remnants of old hardened packing and corrosion in one spot.
Install packing on an uneven surface means you have to overtighten the gland to stop gland from leaking. Overtightening starts a cycle of squeezing out the lube, running warm and wearing the packing fast...so you have to overtighten gland again to stop it from leaking. Overtightening causes packing to wear out so it starts to leak, you overtighten to stop the leak, packing wears, overtighten, wear, leak, tighten and the cycle continues.