Idiot Question - Dripless Shaft not so dripless

[Rustic Charm]

To me, these two photo's reveal that you have no stern tube, would that be correct?

And the stuffing box is bolted directly on to the wall where you prop shaft comes through?

[Johnathon123]

I am not entirely sure that there is a stern tube at the moment, there is certainly no room between the stuffing box and where a stern tube might be.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Johnathon123

I am not entirely sure that there is a stern tube at the moment, there is certainly no room between the stuffing box and where a stern tube might be.

That's what I was suspecting. So they have installed the PSS seal 'stern tube end / largest diameter) over the top of the old stuffing box, including the nut?

If they have done this, it's a really bad idea. The packing in the stuffing box needs to drip. It needs to be maintained. It can't do that if the PSS seal is clamped over the top. I'd take the PSS seal off and re pack the stuffing box. I don't think your set up is suitable for a PSS seal.

[Emmalina]

I think I did a similar thing when I turned round my stuffing box after lathing the brass lining out to make a support for my bellows. I thought if worst scenario comes I can still pull out the shaft turn the center of my stuffing box and put it all back together as a stuffing box again. I have removed the shaft in the water before but wouldn't recommend anybody try it without good support crew and diving gear !

[Johnathon123]

So the end result was this, a mate who is a shipwright (and whom I embarrassingly never asked before) came down and had a look.

The leak is not major from the drive and he tightened it up to no more than one or two drips here and there. When the boat is slipped we will drop out the shaft and redo it all but there is no rush he assures me.

After building some temporary baffles and letting the boat sit for 24 hours or so (Bilge alarms in every baffle space) we found that the water was coming from the bow section (forward of chainplates). We sprinkled some talc around and found it is coming from under the water tank.

Unfortunately access is poor without removing tank, so we stopped to think for a while and drink a bit, we never got back to chasing the leak but we removed the baffles so all good with pumps, removed talc etc.

Now I need to dismantle the floor and look more but in the meantime I am confident (and more important my shipwright mate is confident) that we are looking at a small problem that will be hard to find. I just need to make the time to get it to happen. Preferably this week.

Thanks for all he advice and thoughts, very much appreciated.