A28 stuffing box

[Trawlerman]

At a recent seminar by a Travelers Insurance surveyor, he showed slides of a 28 TE that had sunk. He said that the fault was that the stuffing box was located under the engine and was totally inaccessable for maintenance. The owner stated that he hadn't adjusted it in the 10 years he'd owned it. Is this true, not only for the 28's, but for all the V-Drive Albin models?

Jim

[DougSea]

At a recent seminar by a Travelers Insurance surveyor, he showed slides of a 28 TE that had sunk. He said that the fault was that the stuffing box was located under the engine and was totally inaccessable for maintenance. The owner stated that he hadn't adjusted it in the 10 years he'd owned it. Is this true, not only for the 28's, but for all the V-Drive Albin models?

Jim

It is under the engine but it's not all that hard to access. I just had mine tightened up a couple of weeks ago. You pull out the in-deck boxes and you can get to it about as easily as you can many mechanical items on boats. Sounds like an owner less than dedicated to maintenance! (It pains me to say that about a fellow Albin owner! Maybe just an "out of sight, out of mind" issue.)

[RobS]

... Maybe just an "out of sight, out of mind" issue.)

I agree with Doug's response that the shaft seal is certainly accessible. Maybe it was that guy's first inboard so he knew nothing about shaft seals, stuffing boxes, etc...

[Russell]

The sad thing about this is that the guy is supposed to be a surveyor and should know better. Now he is going around giving seminars spreading false and damaging information about Albins. Anyone with common sense would know better or sinking Albins would have been well known. I wonder how long the stuffing box was leaking and the owner did not even check his boat.

[RobS]

I bet Traveler's denied the claim based on the policyholder's lack of proper maintenance. Those darn adjusters!

[DougSea]

I bet Traveler's denied the claim based on the policyholder's lack of proper maintenance. Those darn adjusters!

Evil! They're all evil I tell you!!

(Sorry Rob...I got carried away!)

[Pitou]

At a recent seminar by a Travelers Insurance surveyor, he showed slides of a 28 TE that had sunk. He said that the fault was that the stuffing box was located under the engine and was totally inaccessable for maintenance. The owner stated that he hadn't adjusted it in the 10 years he'd owned it. Is this true, not only for the 28's, but for all the V-Drive Albin models?

Jim

Travelers "Surveyor" or was it a Travelers "Adjuster" ? If it was an adjuster I can understand the lack of knowledge, but a Surveyor ... not very experienced.

FWIW ... I have a buddy who is a head Claims Manager for a very large Marine Agency ... Maratime Deck grad with lots of true field experience running ships with twin 36 ft. screws / had to put his feet on land for marriage and family. He recently / 2 weeks ago instructed a class for in house company "Marine" Adjusters for a very large insurance company, that company shall remain nameless/you would all recognize the name. The 1st question to the the six students ... who has boating experience 3 had none, 2 had been on a pontoon boat 1 time each and 1 owns a canoe! Holy crap!!!! He just shared this with me Wednesday night. My jaw dropped and he replied "this is what I deal with every day". He spends most of his day educating the clueless in order to get claims paid. Pretty scarey stuff. Nothing like having a knowledgable agency on your side. An aside; none of the Adjusters knew anything about salvage rights and insurance company obligations to pay.

As far as the guy who admitted his 10 years of negligence .... sorry to say "serves him right". In the 28's of today and most that I'm aware of have dripless drive shaft seals and not stuffing boxes, though our rudders do have a rudder stuffing box / repacked mine this past spring as it had a very slowwwwww drip. Possibly earlier 28's had stuffing boxes on the drive shaft and if so they need to be tended to much more frequently than a dripless shaft seal. As far as access ... it's been said ... no more problematic than most small inboard boats. Back in '05 my Tides Dripless Shaft seal was leaking and it was replaced with a PSS by my mechanic who crawled down under. it is accessible, though not a job of great joy.

A lesson to all ... perform the routine maintenance & save your receipts or have your claim denied! Besides your oil & filter changes don't forget ... coolant, transmission fluid & filters, heat exchanger and aftercooler mainteance or else you too could find yourself in the mainteance negligence category.

[RobS]

.... If it was an adjuster I can understand the lack of knowledge.....

Ouch that hurt

[Pitou]

.... If it was an adjuster I can understand the lack of knowledge.....

Ouch that hurt

Ohhhh, Rob. Just having a little fun with you on a Friday afternoon. I knew you could take it. Like in any industry there are the dim witted and the shining stars like you, my Albin brother.

[RobS]

...Just having a little fun with you on a Friday afternoon.

Likewise - Touche'

And soon it's gonna be Albin Old Man - I turn 40 in 2 weeks

[Denis]

I have an older Albin with a standard stuffing box. I had a mechanic re-pack it for me, I was watching him so I could see what he did and how he did it. It took him less than one hour to do and it has been perfect since. I only had to make a small adjustment last year and I was able to do that by myself with the same tool he used. I do question the cooling hose that runs to it and I wonder how often that should be changed.
It will always be a challenge for boat owners, trying to keep the unwanted fluids out, ocean water, rain water ect. while keeping other fluids in where they belong, anti-freeze, oil, transmission fluid etc....

[DougSea]

And soon it's gonna be Albin Old Man - I turn 40 in 2 weeks

And I know the perfect gift!

http://www.berkeleyhat.com/greekfiscap.html

[RobS]

And I know the perfect gift!

With an AOG embroidering, of course

[Denis]

Those caps look great, I'm putting one on my X-Mas list. I won't look great with it on but the hat will look fine.

[spwhite]

I have a 1995 28TE, and had stuffing box issues last year (2009). When my mechanic first looked at it, he thought it was going to be a big problem, but in the end, he repacked it and the whole cost was only about $150 including his time. He accessed everything from the port deck hatch alongside the engine. It has been fine this season.