Stuffing Box

[draglink]

I have a 236 Inboard. I have owned it for almost ten years. I just repacked my stuffing box. Now, even with a drip every 5 to 10 seconds my stuffing box is hot to the touch. It was doing this before...so I figured I needed to repack. Any hints, suggestions. I really dont want to let more salty water in to cool it. It has never run that warm before. What could cause this with that much water flow? Thanks in advance, Mike

[warthog5]

If it was mine, it would have been changed to a dripless unit a long time ago.

http://www.shaftseal.com/pss-shaft-s...struction.html

http://www.boatus.com/boattech/Casey/StuffingBox.htm

[draglink]

I've seen and read about these. I have two problems. One is it looks like you're turning something very simple into something more complicated. On a boat, with my limited mental ability, I dont like to make things more complicated. The biggest problem I have is room. I have a 1.5:1 transmission, it is longer than the stock 1:1 ratio tranny. I have 1/8-1/4" between the coupling and the stuffing box. The dripless units are way to long to fit. The packing last me ten years with no problems, flax packing cost about 1$ a foot. I really want to stick with this system. I just checked on the boat and at rest it really doesnt drip. Next use, I'm going to back off the nut a little more. Glad you made it thru Dennis OK. Thanks, Mike

[tuskanraider]

I have the dripless seal. It works just fine. Too bad all the hathes leak, but that's another story.

I was told the packing is supposed to constantly drip (the impression I got was one drip every second minimum)