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Mike,
I read in your previous post that you had installed a Shaft Seal, did you go dripless? Is your stuffing box threaded? Did you replace the cutlass bearing?
I'm considering a PSS dripless unit as the cost seams tolerable and installation seems straight forward. Somehow these "straight forward" projects tend to get complicated!Dave Green
"Bart" MKII #245
Hi Dave,
I had a PSS shaft seal installed when I found my old stuffing box and hose were beyond repair. Because of previous owners neglect I also needed to replace the shaft, and prop as well. Essentially everything from the transmission back is new except the cutlass bearing.
There are a lot of good arguments for staying with a stuffing box and simply putting dripless packing in it. Personally I prefer the PSS for its simplicity and would have it installed again. There is nothing to adjust. I have had no problems and no maintenance other than a visual inspection each time I am using the boat (a habit I developed because of the leaky stuffing box.)
I did not install it myself (the only project I have not done myself). When the stuffing box began to fail on Wind Horse I could not devote the time nor did I have the tools to get the job done so I paid a yard. I had the haulout, PSS, shaft, prop, and a bottom job for well under $2k. Personally if I were doing it myself I would be worried about frozen fasteners and a damaged prop shaft that might make the donut fit poorly.
If you plan on putting Bart on the hard for the winter you should have time to get it installed prior to spring even if you run into problems.
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
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Dave,
I have done two installations of PSS shaft seals myself on a C&C 27 and a Westsail 32, and both have performed flawlessly in the water. There are excellent instructions provided, and it is overall not a difficult job if you are mechanically inclined. However you should be aware of a couple of caveats -
1. The prop-shaft needs to be perfect where the forward seal attaches (it has an internal o-ring that seals it on the shaft). This area has often been scored by the old packing overheating due to improper adjustment, and thus a new shaft may be required.
2. Before sliding on the forward seal, make sure there are no burrs or nicks that would damage the o-ring
3. It is often quite difficult to pull the prop shaft from the transmission coupling, however depending on your installation, you should be able to come up with a creative "puller"
4. If you've got this far, you may as well be proactive and replace the cutlas bearing - if i recall correctly i had to drop the rudder on my mk 1 to fully remove the prop shaft.
Phil Austin
Phil,
Thanks for the info, I will be installing the PSS myself.
I'm fortunate that my yard has decided to park a MKI and MKIII right next to me for the winter. This gives me the benefit of comparison. MKII and MKIII struts are offset to port, so removal of the rudder is not needed, what a bonus!
I put a Shaft Seal on Towser last spring and concur with Phil Austin's points. My shaft was scored and not perfectly straight, adding a C$500 surprise to the job (presumably the boat had been picked up with the sling under the shaft at some point, a fairly common occurence in my experience). I had assumed that I would replace the cutless bearing (C$90), as it's silly to go to all the work of pulling a shaft without doing that at the same time.
Two issues made the job less than straightforward. As mentioned, separating the shaft from the coupling is impossible by normal means (brute force, etc.). I got them apart by putting a smaller-than-shaft-size socket between the two halves of the coupling, bearing on the end of the shaft, then tightening the coupling bolts. As the two halves of the coupling are squeezed together, the socket forces the shaft out of the coupling.
Putting the Shaft Seal/shaft/coupling assembly together inside of the shaft was difficult because once the Shaft Seal was in place, there wasn't enough room between the shaft and the tail of the engine to slip the coupling over the shaft key and shaft. The rubber bellows therefore had to be compressed as much as possible to give room. If there had been a second person there to pull on the shaft, it would have been easy, but there wasn't. Accordingly, I assembled the Shaft Seal on the shaft then went under the boat and heaved on the shaft to compress the bellows as much as possible. I held the shaft in position by clamping the zinc on it, outside the p-bracket. Back inside the boat, I found that this gave me just enough room to get the key and coupling on the shaft.
Once that was done, it was easy to manouevre the Shaft Seal into its proper position on the log and on the shaft. This was eased by the advice I'd been given by a club mechanic, who told me to dry-fit all the components and mark their correct position on the shaft with a fine-tip marker. This saved a lot of fiddling.
The boat has been dry as a bone since.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Last edited by (2006-10-15 08:18:06)
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
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Thanks for all the encouragement in this thread. Just splashed the boat back in after the tropical storms. Took advantage of being out to install a PSS seal on our A4 C&C 27. Seems to be working great.
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1974 Mark II C&C 27
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1974 Mark II C&C 27
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I have a 1979 mk3 does anyone the stern tube diameter ? I'd like to order PSS dripless .
My boat is under shrink wrap no door . thank you in advance for any input?
Gerard Warner
Katara, '79 Mk III
D.Y.C. Ontario
Gerard Warner
Katara, '79 Mk III
D.Y.C. Ontario
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Hi Gerard
I will get out the tape the next time I'm on the boat. Should not be too many days out. Currently on the hard as well -- but have access.
Steve
1981 MkIII, Hull 886
Etobicoke YC, Toronto ON
Steve
1981 MkIII, Hull 886
Etobicoke YC, Toronto ON
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Steve ,
I'm just about to sand the bottom of Catalina 28 Aquarius in front of your boat . That would be great if you can help me out .
Gerard
Gerard Warner
Katara, '79 Mk III
D.Y.C. Ontario
Gerard Warner
Katara, '79 Mk III
D.Y.C. Ontario
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Hi Gerard
Wow, small world you will be working so close. Of course, happy for you to come aboard and measure shaft log. I can really use some bottom work as well, and would like to discuss with you. I will try to send you a private message.
Steve
Steve
1981 MkIII, Hull 886
Etobicoke YC, Toronto ON
Steve
1981 MkIII, Hull 886
Etobicoke YC, Toronto ON
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Hi Gerard
I can't find a way to send you mail. Could you drop me a line at
[deleted]
thanks
[There is one rule on this Forum: no soliciting of private responses unless for the purpose of buying or selling something. When the conversation happens in the Forum, we all learn, which is the point of having a public Forum. Please read this explanation. - Admin]
Last edited by (2015-11-21 13:18:50)
Steve
1981 MkIII, Hull 886
Etobicoke YC, Toronto ON
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Admin -- very sorry -- but I was actually trying to reach Gerard for purposes of buying his boat detailing services.
Once one of us gets the shaft log size, we will certainly post.
Sorry for issue caused
Steve
1981 MkIII, Hull 886
Etobicoke YC, Toronto ON
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Thank you for that answer. For me, and for many users of other forums, it is absurdly frustrating to read interesting questions on other forums, with no answers because the response has been PM'd to the questioner. Insisting on public responses seems to irk some participants here, but it has given us a robust, accessible body of data about these boats. Understanding and cooperation are appreciated.
Incidentally, this seems an appropriate time to add a Shaft-Seal warning - never leave the shaft uncoupled from the engine and unsupported when the boat is in the water. Shaft-Seals rely on a precise alignment of the mating surfaces. If the shaft is uncoupled and drooping, water will come in. A boat sank at its moorings a few years back on Toronto Island when the shaft was left uncoupled.
- Admin
Last edited by (2015-11-24 06:56:51)
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Gerard
From what I measured today, the shaft log outer diameter is about 1.5"
Note that this is an "eyeball" estimate done without removing the stuffing box hose.
Let us know how PSS goes. Would like to do myself one day.
Steve
1981 MkIII, Hull 886
Etobicoke YC, Toronto ON
Steve
1981 MkIII, Hull 886
Etobicoke YC, Toronto ON
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Thanks Steve I will post how it goes , doing for two reasons :cleaner bilge and my stuffing box
looks like it's seen better days 36 years old now . ordered a indigo prop too hopefully that helps with Port Dalhousie's current ,gotta be better than my lil egg beater
Gerard Warner
Katara, '79 Mk III
D.Y.C. Ontario
Gerard Warner
Katara, '79 Mk III
D.Y.C. Ontario
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I put in a PSS two springs ago along with a new cutless bearing. If you go the trouble to extract the shaft from the engine coupling and pull the shaft to redo the stuffing box then the new cutless is a no-brainer. Plan on a new engine coupling (regardless if you end up cutting the old one off in frustration!) and machining to have the shaft checked and the new coupling fitted and faced. I pulled the old coupling off the shaft (mine is an Atomic 4 and I really didn't feel like using my grinder right next to the fuel tank) and cut out the old cutlass bearing but paid the machinist to lap the prop and use his tool to pull-in the new cutlass bearing and paid the local engine mechanic to align everything.
These are handy references:
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/pss_shaft_seal
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/replacing_a_cutlass
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/fitting_a_prop
By the way ... re alignment ... plan on a rough alignment when the boat is on the hard and then fine-tune when it's in the water. Things will move around. Mine was out by quite a bit once back in the water.
1979 C&C 27 MkIII, Hull No. 780
Cygnet
North Saanich, BC
1979 C&C 27 MkIII, Hull No. 780
Cygnet
North Saanich, BC
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