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hot shaft log hot stuffing packing gland

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Sudan
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Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2022 1:03 pm
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hot shaft log hot stuffing packing gland

Post by Sudan » Sun Aug 28, 2022 7:29 pm

My wife inherited her old family boat, a 1963 24' Cavalier cabin cruiser with 283 engine. I'm somewhat handy but don't know a lot about boats. We've had the boat 3 years now. It previously sat in a barn for 17 years but was well cared for. We have been using it regularly for short trips in the CA delta with no major problems. We decided it was due for a haul out and new bottom paint so we made the arrangements. We asked the shop to also fix minor leaks and replace the prop shaft packing. After getting the boat back, we were running it back to our home marina about an hour or so away. I checked and realized that the packing wasn't dripping at all and the packing gland and shaft were very hot. I had my wrenches with me and tried to loosen the packing nut to get it dripping but I couldn't get it to drip before the nut would come completely off. I ended up pouring river water on it and the shaft all the way home. Back in the marina, I never could get the packing to drip. I decided to replace the packing again, this time myself. I had a small piece of very old packing in the tool box left by my deceased father in law. I took it to West Marine for a new piece of packing the same size. I successfully replaced the packing without sinking the boat. It was extremely difficult to get the previous packing out of the gland. It was way too big. There were just two turns of it because it was so big. It was so tight in there water was never going to get past it. Now I have a steady drip when under way, however in checking things out due to paranoia, I notice that the packing gland is still getting very hot, way too hot to hold a finger on it. This is while it is dripping once per second even. I also noticed that the shaft log itself is very hot. I'm a novice but I don't see any good reason why it would be hot. I don't know if it used to get hot before the haul out as I never bothered to notice it even existed. So I'm looking for advice on what to look for or what to do. I do have other options for places to perform a haul out and repairs. Thanks for any wisdom, experience, and advice you can offer!

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