Dripless stuffing box

[Mark S]

Hi folks.

Does anyone use the Packless Sealing System from PYI or a similar product instead of a conventional stuffing box? As long as I'm replacing the shaft, I am also replacing the cutless bearing and a friend suggested a dripless stuffing box. Any intelligence you can offer would be appreciated.

Mark

[thatch]

Mark S
I have a PSS dripless seal in my Catalina 30 and so far it has performed flawlessly. My boat is in salt water and the seal system seems to be holding up just fine. It is important that it is installed correctly and that the bellows is collapsed the correct amount. The major drawback is that they are ex$pen$ive.
Tom

[David Masury]

Another option is to use the teflon putty type of packing. I put it in about tens years ago and outside of making an adjustment last year, that is all I have had to do. The stuff goes into your normal stuffing box... following the instructions and that is it. I jknow several others who have used it and have had the same success.

David

[thatch]

Mark S. and Dave,
Just to clarify my position on the PSS seal, I inherited mine when I purchased my cat. 30 last year but would probably not spend the $250.00 to replace a perfectly good bronze stuffing box. The one factor that might influence my decision would be, how accessible is the stuffing box for servicing. The PSS unit is almost maintainance free and of coarse periodic "snugging" of the packing nut on a conventional box can be difficult in some boats depending on access.
Tom

[SeaFever]

Mark,

If you are taking the shaft out for replacement, it makes a lot of sense to replace the stuffing box with the PSS shaft seal. I use one works great. No more wear on the shaft and no water in the bilge. The difference in cost is easily justified. Once you put the PSS you will never go back. I will promise you. I have not seen any downside. Good luck.

[Rick Estabrook]

I trusted my traditional stuffing box and bilge pump and paid a dear price. After shutting down one afternoon, I checked the drip rate and saw the usual 1 drip every 10 seconds or so. As I was to be away for 10 days, I was confident that all was OK. When I returned the cabin was flooded above the carburetor. The drip had accelerated for some reason, the pump electrical had failed, and I had a major dry-out on my hands. I would do all possible to eliminate the potential of that happening again, including the dripless stuffing box.