inboard shaft drips

[GARYGA]

Well i repacked both sharfts and they now drip between 12 to 20 drips a minute and i cant get them any better then that or they go to, to few drips.
but now they drip this 12 to 20 a minute all the time, boat running or not.
shold they be dripping while the engins are off???

if not im going to start over...

thanks in advance from Gary Ga

[TADTOOMUCH]

They should drip about 3or 4 times a minute while stationary and a little more while running. I'd wait a while until you run them a bit and they have some time to swell up a little. Then if they still continue to drip and you could not tighten them up anymore and you had as many rings as required, then try to repack them. which way did you cut the packing? Straight across or at an angle? Did you stagger the cuts when you installed them? When you cut them you should have cut at a 45 angle across the top but straight down through the packing. Some people try to cut the packing straight across and through the packing at a 45 degree angle going through the packing and when you squeeze it with the packing nut it actually opens up the joint.

There is a great link somewhere on this forum that shows the proper proceedure.

[Stripermann2]

Yep...this may help. Posted earlier from this great forum!

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box