On Saturday I noticed my Bilge pumps running. I emptied the bilges and returned an hour later to 20 gallons of water I was worried since the boat - then called Bluey- had sunk in 2004 with extensive damage. It was about to sink again. I found a Marina to put her on the hard.
Turns out that the Dripless Stuffing Box had failed. It was leaking. Today we removed it. What a mess of melted rubber all over the shaft.
Solution- Get a regular stuffing box. They, at least, fail slowly. Dripless fail all at once apparently. My advice, monitor your Dripless carefully. Lifespan is about 6 years. Replace with the old type. They are easy to adjust. Fool proof.
Will also get a new Cutlass Bearing on my 2001 vessel.
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No Drip Stuffing Box was sinking my Albin 28
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cowboy321
- Deckhand
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2014 7:55 am
- Home Port: Naptown
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special k
- Gold Member
- Posts: 315
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:37 pm
- Home Port: mystic
- Location: tolland, ct
Re: No Drip Stuffing Box was sinking my Albin 28
are the dripless seals on the 28te even accessible without lifting the engine?
traditional stuffing box needs accessibility routinely
traditional stuffing box needs accessibility routinely
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jleonard
- Gold Member
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:35 am
- Home Port: Mystic, CT
- Location: New Port Richey, FL
Re: No Drip Stuffing Box was sinking my Albin 28
Is that a bellows type dripless? With an "accordion" type of boot?
I have the other type of dripless which is a lip seal. I have a spare already in position so I can install without removing the shaft.
I have the other type of dripless which is a lip seal. I have a spare already in position so I can install without removing the shaft.
Formerly
1983 40 Albin trunk cabin
Attitude Adjustment
Mystic, CT
1983 40 Albin trunk cabin
Attitude Adjustment
Mystic, CT
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rcwhite
- Gold Member
- Posts: 163
- Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:05 am
- Home Port: Southport Maine
Re: No Drip Stuffing Box was sinking my Albin 28
If the housing was melted to the shaft it sounds like there was just
not enough water getting to it or possibly it was poorly aligned. They
need the water for lubrication and to displace air that works it's way up
the shaft.
When I went to replace the seals during layup and found the housings
had overheated and melted, I considered using stuffing boxes as well. Looking
into the dripless it seems that some dripless designs may be more prone
to catastrophic failure than others.
Ours was likely 13yrs old had obviously overheated at some point but
was just leaking. While not dripless, the leaking wasn't bad enough
to be concerned with and didn't get worse over time so we ran the season
with the seals leaking. The rudder boxes weren't much better last year
either actually:) Based on this I decided to stick with the dripless and went
with the same type along with new packing for the rudders. Nice and
dry this season...
not enough water getting to it or possibly it was poorly aligned. They
need the water for lubrication and to displace air that works it's way up
the shaft.
When I went to replace the seals during layup and found the housings
had overheated and melted, I considered using stuffing boxes as well. Looking
into the dripless it seems that some dripless designs may be more prone
to catastrophic failure than others.
Ours was likely 13yrs old had obviously overheated at some point but
was just leaking. While not dripless, the leaking wasn't bad enough
to be concerned with and didn't get worse over time so we ran the season
with the seals leaking. The rudder boxes weren't much better last year
either actually:) Based on this I decided to stick with the dripless and went
with the same type along with new packing for the rudders. Nice and
dry this season...