1983 CD 28 Stuffing Box

[adamganz]

Moving this out of my previous post.

I have a CD 28 and need to repack the stuffing box. The boat has the original Volvo diesel and I believe has a 1" shaft. Although I suspect, and have been advised here, that the CD wrenches will be of no help given the lack of clearance, I've purchased them just in case.

My question here is what size flax I should use. I had assumed (i'm not sure why) that I should use 1/4". When i spoke with a guy at Spartan Marine, he suggested 3/16", saying that he had a hard time inserting 3 rings of 1/4" in the packing nut - his comment was more general than specific to my boat.

Thanks!

Adam

[mgphl52]

1/4 inch should be used. This pic from my owners manual shows exact measurements made by a previous owner.

[Bob Ohler]

Adam, I would bet that your boat takes 1/4" packing. Install 3 individual wraps, NOT in a spiral but rather 3 separate wraps of 1/4" packing. The last time I did this job, I applied very sparingly a very thin layer of grease to the packing. This greatly improved the ease of installation.

One method I like is to precut your packing by wrapping the uncut length of packing around a piece of tubing the same diameter as the shaft on your boat. Making three pieces while you are not laying on your ear will make the job a little easier. Also, if possible "miter" the ends so that the ends of the packing fit neatly together.

The hard part I suspect will be getting your old packing out. I have never had any luck with the corkscrew packing removers. I can break those in less than a minute. A couple of small screwdrivers and a scratch awl is what I use to pry out the old stuff.

Good luck!

[mgphl52]

Ask your dentist if you can have a few old dental picks... They usually just throw them out. I have a few that come in handy for all sorts of stuff.

[sgbernd]

If you are getting near time to change the cutlass bearing, and the shaft is coming out anyway, just pull the shaft, then remove the packing gland. It is a lot easier to renew the stuffing in your garage than on the boat and a nice time to clean up the corrosion with some acid and grease everything up nicely.

A good mold to wrap the stuffing around is the stern railing as it is 1" diameter, the same as the shaft.

I used good sized fish hooks, grasped in needle nose pliers to remove the old stuffing, but be a bit careful as they can break, and sharp bits of stainless in your eye don't sound like fun. Buy several as some will break and others get lost. Getting the new packing in is pretty easy, relatively speaking. And as mentioned earlier, that teflon grease sold by West Marine helps it go in and is compatible with the teflon.

-s. g. bernd

[adamganz]

So here's a development.

As i posted in a previous thread, the recent birth of my daughter forced me to leave the bottom paint and stuffing box work to another person. We had one shot to get the boats in the water at a high tide and I couldn't be there to get the work done.

A fellow member of the marina volunteered to take the stuffing box on. He's a diesel mechanic for Dept of Sanitation in NYC and capable, if a little unpredictable. I was able to unscrew the packing nut with a large screw driver and a hammer - the nut is not a hex; looks more like a gear/sprocket. It was not easy. My friend re-stuffed the nut (with only two 1/4" flax as he said it was impossible to get three) and had a hell of a time getting the nut threaded back onto the whatever it's called. The lock nut rotates smooth as butter so he thought that maybe all the pounding (me and previous owners) may have reshaped the packing nut - making it microscopically less than perfectly round.

The boat's in the water and I'm still getting a healthy amount of water through the stuffing box - fills the bilge in a couple of days. This guy is going to fool around with it a bit more so I'm hoping for the best.

However, worst case and expensive scenario, I'll need to have the boat hauled someplace where this can be fixed. The boat is in Sheepshead Bay - near Coney Island in Brooklyn. Does anyone know an outfit that'll do this kind of work in the area? It's amazing, I've called a few places in Brooklyn but nobody works on inboards or old sailboats!

Adam

[sgbernd]

Both the nut and the gland are quite robust so I doubt it is warped. It does require 3 rounds of packing, and if your mechanic only put in two, that may be why why it is now leaking. Or maybe he only removed two layers leaving one old one in place. If he only took two out, and put two new ones in, however, I'd not expect it to leak as the two new ones should be pretty good. Usually, when you put them in new, they don't leak at all for many hours before they wear in. In any case, if you can't get the leak stopped by tightening it up, there is not much that can be done besides haul the boat and re-work it. (Not what you wanted to hear I'm sure).

BTW, I have a set of spare wrenches as well as the gland and nut that I no longer use as I replaced with the dripless system during the repower. All are in good shape, if you are interested. The Spartan wrenches barely fit the V and you can only get about 1/12th of a turn but you can use the to do the final tightening better than hammer and screwdriver.

Good Luck,
Steve Bernd

[David Morton]

Adam,
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box

All you will ever need to know about your stuffing box.

David

[hilbert]

I had a hell of time with the stuffing box. Probably not the same issues, but maybe my experience will be of help.
The previous owner had used undersized 3/16" flax. Even after I was sure that I had removed it all, I kept finding more pieces.
If you can't insert three rings of new flax, then there is probably still some old flax under the nut.

Finally I was able to insert three rings of 1/4" flax and it appeared that there should be enough space to screw on the nut.
As hard as I tried, I could not get the nut to screw onto the threads.

The killer was a segment of flax that found it's way between the shaft and the casing on the threaded side.
I could not see it from my inverted position looking back towards the engine. I eventually figured it out by using a camera to photograph what I could not view.

If you look carefully at this image, you can see a piece of flax impacted between the shaft and the casing on the threaded side:


Jonathan

[adamganz]

Thanks all.

One thing i just realized is that while the wrenches from Cape Dory were useless before the box was repacked, they might work now as the packing and lock nuts are up to a 1/2" forward of where they were - with potentially more space to squeeze in a wrench. Hate to get my hopes up.

The Maine Cruising website is really amazing - I've been referring to it quite a bit. One thing i've noticed is that my stuffing box, like most CDs i think, does not have a hose or clamps around the shaft. Not clear on the design difference.

My question still stands: anyone know a boat mechanic outfit in Brooklyn, Staten Island, or even New Jersey...near Brooklyn?

All the best!

Adam