nobles9596
Veteran Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2018
- Messages
- 81
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Next Chapter
- Vessel Make
- 34' Marine Trader DC
A lesson from my lack of knowledge:
This past winter I replaced both steering helms on my trawler so this past weekend I took it out to test the operation and to reset the autopilot. It all worked great.
Later that evening I went down to the boat to watch the sunset and noticed it had a slight lisp to the port side. Wind was blowing pretty hard so it did not really concern me.
Prior to leaving the boat for the night I lifted the floor hatches out and was shocked to see 12 inches of water in the bottom of the boat and heard water running. I immediately flipped on the auxiliary bilge pump and the sump box pump. I had a shop vacuum on the boat that I used as well. I also put an emergency call in to a marine mechanic and he responded quickly.
I isolated and found the leak to be the PSS Dripless shaft seal that I had installed new three years ago, because I was tired of the boat smell of salt water dripping in the bilge from the standard packing seal. The mechanic loosened the allen screws and slid the collar tighter to the ring and tigtned it down and the leak stopped immediately.
I vacuumed all the sea water out and washed down everything throughly with fresh water. I then cut the AC on very cold, left the hatch covers opened and set up fans. By morning it was all dry.
I learned that the PSS dripless shaft seal needs to be adjusted every six months and needs to be rebuilt or replaced every six year even if it looks brand new.
There was no marina close by that was open to lift the boat out if I had not gotten the leak stopped. My last ditch effort I think would have been to drive boat up on to the beach to prevent her from sinking.
Let my ignorance be a lesson learned by others that are not familiar with the dripless shaft seals.
This past winter I replaced both steering helms on my trawler so this past weekend I took it out to test the operation and to reset the autopilot. It all worked great.
Later that evening I went down to the boat to watch the sunset and noticed it had a slight lisp to the port side. Wind was blowing pretty hard so it did not really concern me.
Prior to leaving the boat for the night I lifted the floor hatches out and was shocked to see 12 inches of water in the bottom of the boat and heard water running. I immediately flipped on the auxiliary bilge pump and the sump box pump. I had a shop vacuum on the boat that I used as well. I also put an emergency call in to a marine mechanic and he responded quickly.
I isolated and found the leak to be the PSS Dripless shaft seal that I had installed new three years ago, because I was tired of the boat smell of salt water dripping in the bilge from the standard packing seal. The mechanic loosened the allen screws and slid the collar tighter to the ring and tigtned it down and the leak stopped immediately.
I vacuumed all the sea water out and washed down everything throughly with fresh water. I then cut the AC on very cold, left the hatch covers opened and set up fans. By morning it was all dry.
I learned that the PSS dripless shaft seal needs to be adjusted every six months and needs to be rebuilt or replaced every six year even if it looks brand new.
There was no marina close by that was open to lift the boat out if I had not gotten the leak stopped. My last ditch effort I think would have been to drive boat up on to the beach to prevent her from sinking.
Let my ignorance be a lesson learned by others that are not familiar with the dripless shaft seals.