First run of the year!

So, because of all the cold we had because of global warming, I have waited far too long to get the boat in this season.

Finally, yesterday, I took her out. What a gem I have. Boat ran great, sounded great, everything went well. It was worth the sun burn.

But I do have a question. What size wrenches do I need for the packing gland? I tried like hell to adjust it without removing the floor but failed. I was using pipe wrenches.

I'm hoping the weather fools are wrong about this weekend's rain. I'd love to go out on Saturday.

Hollywood wrote: Caliper, micrometer, ruler, tape measure. All wonderful, wonderful instruments. Put the pipe wrenches away...

None of that would have helped me loosen the nut, tighten the gland and then secure the nut.

It was dripping too much, I needed to slow it down.

Two of these work great. They are called slip nut wrenches. Typically you do not want to tighten the packing nut with a wrench. By hand is good. If the dripping is still too excessive, repack. Use the wrenches for breaking the jam nut loose and tightening it back down.

Same question: Hadda cut my handles short to get under my Century v-drive; but with limited space, rising water and no visibility other than a mirror, had no luck getting a decent grip and they wouldn't budge. Likewise, on the Southwind even Morfoot could't get them to budge, said he had some better wrenches at home and maybe the floor panel has to come out. Is there a better wrench out there than the standard slipnut wrench?

Larry, he needs to loosen the nut, not tighten it!

8122pbrainard wrote: Two of these work great. They are called slip nut wrenches. Typically you do not want to tighten the packing nut with a wrench. By hand is good. If the dripping is still too excessive, repack. Use the wrenches for breaking the jam nut loose and tightening it back down.

Hey, look at that, a reasoned, helpful answer.

And not to worry, once I broke the jam nut loose, I did tighten the packing gland by hand. The wrench on the packing glad was just for stabilization. 1 turn or so and the dripping was perfect.

Thanks for your HELP...