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Prop Shaft

A

actigner

Alan C. Tigner
During my refit this winter I pulled my prop shaft and found a
lot of corrosion back of the prop and wear at the stuffing box.
The original material appears to be bronze. My yard has
proposed making a new one from stainless steel. Does any one
know of a reason not to. How about the dis-similar materials
with having a bronze propeller. What are most shafts made
from. Thanks for all your help. I am sure there will be a lot
more issues as the refit is major and has only started
Regards
RCL
 
<div>Rob. Most shafts are made of SS today because it is the cheaper material. However, SS needs oxygen in order to protect itself so if you use it make sure to let your stuffing box drip a little. There are some special SS that are vertially corrison proof but they are very expensive. Because silicon/bronze is just about as strong as SS but less likely to corrode, I would opt for it. Mangane/bronze is stronger but less noble than silicon bronze and is a therefore a poorer choise.Jay
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Jay
One of the other changes I'm doing is installing a PSS Dripless Shaft Seal. I'm afraid I don't understand why the stuffing box should drip a little. The shaft behind the new seal is completely immersed and in front in the air. Please clarify.
Thanks
RCL
 
<div>Hi Jay,I tried sending you an e-mail, but it kept coming back as undeliverable. Anyway, I sent in a dues check a couple of months ago, but the check has not cleared my account. Are you holding checks or have you not received it? If you never got it please inform me and I'll send another. Thanks.Eric
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<div>Eric. I don't have my ledger with me but I believe I remember cashing your check. I have cashed every check that I have recieved up to about two weeks ago. I will cash the others by this weekend. I will check tonight and get back to you tomorrow.Jay
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Allowing your stuffing box to drip allows fresh, oxygenated water to remain inside the box around the shaft. Otherwise, the water would become stagnant or anoxic and the SS would begin to corrode. The new dripless boxes use a different system, which employs graphite. I am not familiar with them. From what I have heard from surveying friends that have installed them they have a 50% success rate. That is, some of my friends that installed them had to rehaul and have them redone after about 800 miles because they developed bad leaks. The others reported no problems. You should probably canvass others on the board about them.
 
<div>Robert,
I have a friend who was on the "wrong" side of Jay's 50% stats! He had a yard (recommended by the PYI people) install the shaft seal unit. He had problems from the start and finally had to have it removed after 3 reinstalls! It developed some really bad leaks around the seal and he almost lost his boat. PYI, of course, said the yard didn't install it properly, and the yard, of course, said the unit was defective. He finally had it pulled and wrote the whole thing off as a lesson learned! Hope you have better luck! Mick MacMullan
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Hello,
When I purchased our Morgan 382,hull#169, new in 1979, I had the yard install a "Last-Drip" shaft seal, in place of the stuffing box, it's self-aligning, and indeed dripless. I have not had any trouble with this product in the last twenty years. the only thing I have to do is to "burp" it on launching the boat in the spring, that's letting in a small amount of sea water, by pulling back on the flexible rubber gasket, I'm sure it's not rubber, but some other longer lasting material. The only time I did experience a vibaration problem,which I thought was the "last-drip", was in fact due to a worn cutless bearing.
 
Rob: A posted a reply earlier today about the dripless shaft seals but thought I woulod add to your comment. I installed the Lasdrop Shaft Seal 4 years ago. I did it myself and when I put the boat in the water it leaked. My son, who is a much better mechanic than I am looked at it & said "Dad, you didn't follow the directions right" He got down in the engine compartment and did a re-installation and the seal has worked perfectly since that time. What I emphasize is that the directions for installation MUST be followed to a T. Otherwise,the product will not work as represented. Incidentally, someone made thed comment that after 800 miles or so they did not perform. I have travelled way beyond 800 miles without a problem. Jim Hudnut.
 
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