Prop shaft packing lessons

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Tim Smale

Prop shaft packing lessons

Post by Tim Smale »

Last time I serviced my prop shaft packing gland I replaced what I found in there the first time - 5/16" teflon coated material. Sure the nut went on a little tight, and hardly any dripping occured following the work, but I thought it was OK. This time around I tried to replace it with the same 5/16" packing but asked the "expert" in the yard to assist me since the nut seemed to be stripped.

Turns out the shaft requires 3/16" packing, and the by-product of 3 times forcing 5/16" packing in the area and trying to get it started on the shaft was a stripped nut - requiring the shaft to be cut in two, pulled, and remachined with a new shaft and nut. I'm not sure if the CD36 manual addresses the packing size - I'm going to check this out. 5/16" just fit so I thought nothing of it - but I'm sure the 3/16" in the new application will be much easier to work with.

If you replace your own packing or have the yard do it for you, I'd recommend checking this out a little to avoid the hassle I had.



tim@iga.org
Ken Coit

Re: Prop shaft packing lessons

Post by Ken Coit »

Tim,

An earlier posting by someone else: Reading through the 1981 Owner's Manual, I came across the statement, "All CDY stuffing boxes use 1/4" waxed flax packing. Do not use synthetic or Teflon packing."

My guess is that 3/16ths will let you get more of the teflon impregnated material in between the rounds of flax and that would be good. I did have a hard time getting two rounds of the 1/4 inch flax in with a round of the teflon impregnated material.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Ken
CD/36 Parfait
Raleigh, NC
Tim Smale wrote: Last time I serviced my prop shaft packing gland I replaced what I found in there the first time - 5/16" teflon coated material. Sure the nut went on a little tight, and hardly any dripping occured following the work, but I thought it was OK. This time around I tried to replace it with the same 5/16" packing but asked the "expert" in the yard to assist me since the nut seemed to be stripped.

Turns out the shaft requires 3/16" packing, and the by-product of 3 times forcing 5/16" packing in the area and trying to get it started on the shaft was a stripped nut - requiring the shaft to be cut in two, pulled, and remachined with a new shaft and nut. I'm not sure if the CD36 manual addresses the packing size - I'm going to check this out. 5/16" just fit so I thought nothing of it - but I'm sure the 3/16" in the new application will be much easier to work with.

If you replace your own packing or have the yard do it for you, I'd recommend checking this out a little to avoid the hassle I had.


PPPparfait@nc.rr.com
Larry DeMers

Re: Prop shaft packing lessons

Post by Larry DeMers »

Ken,

Same here! I was looking to install 3 rounds of 1/4 in. teflon impregnated flax, then scaled that back to two, with a small glob of the teflon goop located between rounds, which were pushed in fairly tightly. The nice thing is that this stuff seems to last a long time once installed.

Cheers,

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~~~Freezin our collective butts off up here! -Jeesh!~~~

Ken Coit wrote: Tim,

An earlier posting by someone else: Reading through the 1981 Owner's Manual, I came across the statement, "All CDY stuffing boxes use 1/4" waxed flax packing. Do not use synthetic or Teflon packing."

My guess is that 3/16ths will let you get more of the teflon impregnated material in between the rounds of flax and that would be good. I did have a hard time getting two rounds of the 1/4 inch flax in with a round of the teflon impregnated material.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Ken
CD/36 Parfait
Raleigh, NC
Tim Smale wrote: Last time I serviced my prop shaft packing gland I replaced what I found in there the first time - 5/16" teflon coated material. Sure the nut went on a little tight, and hardly any dripping occured following the work, but I thought it was OK. This time around I tried to replace it with the same 5/16" packing but asked the "expert" in the yard to assist me since the nut seemed to be stripped.

Turns out the shaft requires 3/16" packing, and the by-product of 3 times forcing 5/16" packing in the area and trying to get it started on the shaft was a stripped nut - requiring the shaft to be cut in two, pulled, and remachined with a new shaft and nut. I'm not sure if the CD36 manual addresses the packing size - I'm going to check this out. 5/16" just fit so I thought nothing of it - but I'm sure the 3/16" in the new application will be much easier to work with.

If you replace your own packing or have the yard do it for you, I'd recommend checking this out a little to avoid the hassle I had.


demers@sgi.com
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