Packing Flax

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   Nauti Girl,

Prop, wheel same thing.  Sorry.  When tightening the nut to the point that you cannot turn the prop by hand, you are setting the packing and compressing it.  This insures that the packing material fills all the voids.  Please keep in mind that this is not just cranking down on the nut.  Rather is is a gradual process of tightening the nut combined with rotating the wheel/prop.

There are others that would recommend backing the nut off a full turn at this point, putting the boat in the water, let the water flow through the gland, run the boat a bit and then tighten down the nut so you have no leakage at speed or a drip or two per minute at rest.

Ditto on making sure the nut is fully engaged and letting the water saok into the packing before putting the boat in gear.

And what is with this weather, starting to snow here in NE Indiana!  YIKES!

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yellowdog Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: December-21-2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 135	Post Options Post Reply Quote yellowdog Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Packing Flax Posted: April-01-2004 at 10:03am
	Nauti Girl, Prop, wheel same thing. Sorry. When tightening the nut to the point that you cannot turn the prop by hand, you are setting the packing and compressing it. This insures that the packing material fills all the voids. Please keep in mind that this is not just cranking down on the nut. Rather is is a gradual process of tightening the nut combined with rotating the wheel/prop. There are others that would recommend backing the nut off a full turn at this point, putting the boat in the water, let the water flow through the gland, run the boat a bit and then tighten down the nut so you have no leakage at speed or a drip or two per minute at rest. Ditto on making sure the nut is fully engaged and letting the water saok into the packing before putting the boat in gear. And what is with this weather, starting to snow here in NE Indiana! YIKES!
	Caretaker of the wife's '78 Ski Nautique

tryan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: November-12-2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 345	Post Options Post Reply Quote tryan Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-31-2004 at 8:41pm
	if the gland nut is barely on, pull a couple out and see if the gland nut bottoms out. if it does add one. you want good engagement of the threads, but you want to leave some room to tighten it up after the packing burnishes in. let the water soak the packing before you put the boat in gear. you should have plenty of time to be a ramp hog.
	promo #2

nauti girl Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: January-20-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 61	Post Options Post Reply Quote nauti girl Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-31-2004 at 1:18am
	I have re-packed mine now with 5 rings on the rudder and 5 on the driveshaft as recommended. It was hard to pack 5 into the driveshaft gland, but I got them in. I won't have it in the water for another two weeks, I hope it will float Yellowdog, when you say tighten until I can't turn the "wheel" - is that the same as the prop? ...excuse my ignorance - that seems REALLY tight! I'll be sure to re-adjust it as soon as I get to the lake.
	Nauti Girl --I think my husband uses his own login now!

danman Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: February-04-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 56	Post Options Post Reply Quote danman Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-31-2004 at 12:38am
	my 78 has 3 for the prop shaft and 4 for the rudder shaft, I don't know if thats the way it came from correct craft or not.?.?.?

reidp Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Platinum Member Joined: December-06-2003 Location: Mooresville, NC Status: Offline Points: 1804	Post Options Post Reply Quote reidp Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-28-2004 at 3:06pm
	Tom, but I thought that pie are round, and that cornbread are square? Thanks, I needed that info also. I haven't change one in 20 years, but I sure can wear out a bilge pump. I've put off doing a rudder packing which leaks like crazy.
	ReidP 1973 Mustang

tryan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: November-12-2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 345	Post Options Post Reply Quote tryan Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-28-2004 at 1:42pm
	you cut the flax 2 pi r ....3.14 inch pieces and stager the gap like piston rings.
	promo #2

79nautique Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Grand Poobah Joined: January-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7872	Post Options Post Reply Quote 79nautique Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-28-2004 at 1:16pm
	I have a question, since I will be doing this in the near future and have never replaced it. everyones uses the term rings some say 3 others 5, what I got from Vince was a single strand of rope so to say. So are you refering to rings as one wrap or one turn around the shaft?

yellowdog Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: December-21-2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 135	Post Options Post Reply Quote yellowdog Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-25-2004 at 5:13pm
	In my younger days, I ran commercial fishing vessels and had the opportunity to repack the stuffing boxes on several larger boats. I would imagine that the theory remains true for smaller boats as well. Physics is physics, isn't it??? We would install the packing material and then tighten the gland until we could not turn the wheel. This was done gradually so that we could determine exactly when we met the point where the wheel could not be rotated. Need to be careful with this as compressing the packing too much and running the engine will probably glaze the packing and you are back where you started. After re-floating the vessel we would run for an hour or so and check out the leakage. Oh yeah, there was always someone stationed to keep an eye on the stuffing box during the 'break-in". This proceedure usually worked without a hitch (or further adjustment) unless the shaft was not perfectly true. Then again, these shafts were 4 - 6 inches in diameter, powered by 1,000 hp and turning 72 - 84 inch wheels at 300 - 350 RPM. Like I said earlier, the theory should be the same, just a different scale.
	Caretaker of the wife's '78 Ski Nautique

tryan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: November-12-2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 345	Post Options Post Reply Quote tryan Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-25-2004 at 4:33pm
	you might look into the synthetic packing. i have not tried it yet. i always put 5 rings on the prop shaft. 'torque' on the is a function of the number of drips per minute. just tighten it up until you get minimal dripage with the shaft spinning and none at rest. the newer synthetic packing is not supposed to drip at all.
	promo #2

nauti girl Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: January-20-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 61	Post Options Post Reply Quote nauti girl Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March-24-2004 at 12:51am
	I'm replacing the packing on my rudder shaft and my drive shaft. How many rings of packing flax rope should I use? I removed 5 rings from the rudder shaft and 3 rings from the drive shaft, but I thought I would want more than 3 on the drive shaft. Also, how do I determine the initial torque on the packing nut (before I put it back in the water)?
	Nauti Girl --I think my husband uses his own login now!

Packing Flax

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