Volvo Stuffing box and Shaft coupling
May 2, 2010 20:03:11 GMT
Post by rxc on May 2, 2010 20:03:11 GMT
We are sitting here in Port Medoc, instead of sailing up to la Rochelle, because we had a small leak in our rubber Volvo stuffing box, and the replacement will not arrive till tommorrow (Monday), and we can't get hauled till Thursday. This is interesting because I think that this stuffing box failed because the bolts on the coupling between my propellor shaft and engine were only tightened hand tight.(!)
One of my chores before leaving this spring was to grease the shaft seal with the special blue Volvo grease, but when I went to apply it, I noticed a drip, and application of the grease did not cause the drip to go away, but instead to increase in quantity.
I have never liked this device because I don't understand how it works, and when the mfg says that this very critical device should be replaced every 5 years, I get real suspicious about how "robust" it is. I had a PSS on my last boat and it was wonderful, so I was planning to replace the Volvo with the PSS at my next haulout - I just didn't have the PSS in hand, because I didn't know the sterntube diameter, and could not order the correct model.
Well, when this leak started to get worse, I did some emergency measurements, and found that I needed a model 02-35M-214 PSS shaftseal (35mm shaft, 2 1/4" stern tube), but the price and availability here in Europe is outrageous, and availability and shipping from the US would also be a hassle, so for now we are going to go with a replacement Volvo box, and pick up the PSS in the US this summer.
So, what does this have to do this the shaft coupling? Well, while I was trying to seal the leak with blue grease, I was running the engine in gear, slowly, to better distribute the grease, and I noticed a wobble in the shaft(?!?). Some deeper investigation revealed that the bolts holding the shaft coupling to the engine were only hand tight. The nylon castellation was the only thing holding them together. I think that maybe they were undone by the original delivery dealer for alignment, or by Jeanneau, for alignment, but never snugged up. I think that this wobble caused the Volvo box to wear a bit more than expected, so that it started to leak with only about 600 hours on the engine.
This is consistent with other issues I have found with this boat, discussed in other posts. It appears that certain dealers may have been less thorough in performing their commissioning duties...
A word to the wise, then - if you have never checked the shaft coupling on your boat, now is a good time to see whether the yard that was supposed to do the alignment finished the job.
One of my chores before leaving this spring was to grease the shaft seal with the special blue Volvo grease, but when I went to apply it, I noticed a drip, and application of the grease did not cause the drip to go away, but instead to increase in quantity.
I have never liked this device because I don't understand how it works, and when the mfg says that this very critical device should be replaced every 5 years, I get real suspicious about how "robust" it is. I had a PSS on my last boat and it was wonderful, so I was planning to replace the Volvo with the PSS at my next haulout - I just didn't have the PSS in hand, because I didn't know the sterntube diameter, and could not order the correct model.
Well, when this leak started to get worse, I did some emergency measurements, and found that I needed a model 02-35M-214 PSS shaftseal (35mm shaft, 2 1/4" stern tube), but the price and availability here in Europe is outrageous, and availability and shipping from the US would also be a hassle, so for now we are going to go with a replacement Volvo box, and pick up the PSS in the US this summer.
So, what does this have to do this the shaft coupling? Well, while I was trying to seal the leak with blue grease, I was running the engine in gear, slowly, to better distribute the grease, and I noticed a wobble in the shaft(?!?). Some deeper investigation revealed that the bolts holding the shaft coupling to the engine were only hand tight. The nylon castellation was the only thing holding them together. I think that maybe they were undone by the original delivery dealer for alignment, or by Jeanneau, for alignment, but never snugged up. I think that this wobble caused the Volvo box to wear a bit more than expected, so that it started to leak with only about 600 hours on the engine.
This is consistent with other issues I have found with this boat, discussed in other posts. It appears that certain dealers may have been less thorough in performing their commissioning duties...
A word to the wise, then - if you have never checked the shaft coupling on your boat, now is a good time to see whether the yard that was supposed to do the alignment finished the job.
