Dripless Shaft Seal?

[JKJ]

I noticed that my bilge pump kept cycling on and off, so I tracked down the source. It appears that the starboard shaft seal is leaking. How is this replaced and how do I figure out what replacement bellows I need. Does the boat have to be pulled to replace? Feeling very nauseous all of a sudden...

seal med.jpg (39.05 KiB) Viewed 5576 times

seal med.jpg (39.05 KiB) Viewed 5576 times

[captainmaniac]

I have repacked regular stuffing boxes in the water, but I think with a dripless you have to come out to replace parts as they are all attached to or around the shaft. I am curious - what's the zip tie there for?

[JKJ]

I have no idea, my thoughts exactly. There is not just a lot of room to work or even look. I had to stick my phone down there and take a bunch of pictures to even see what was down there.

[larryeddington]

my v drives have dripless shaft seals and no leaky, they work fine. I had them installed when I repowered due to the difficulty getting to them in the V configuration. I used PYI PSS dripless seals. Just google dripless seals and you will see pictures of many types.

[JKJ]

Thanks Larry, I have looked and can't seem to pick the exact one, there is no telling how old these are. Thanks for the comment, I was hoping with as many lookers there would have been more comments...

[JKJ]

I finally figured out that it is a Duramax seal. they have a replacement bellows and seal kit. I will let you know how it turns out.

[larryeddington]

Good Luck, on we first re-packed them as they were regular stuffing box. Did it in the water after calculating water inflow. was nothing that bilge pump could not handle. Shaft is 1 inch and stuffing box is 1 1/8 so sixteenth of inch around shaft, actually believe we could run it without packing as it is only about 1.5 foot below surface, ergo no pressure. In any case when re-engine put dripless shaft seals in.