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dripless packing glands
On 15 Apr 2004 18:11:20 -0700, (mike) wrote:
So I ordered a dripless packing unit from PYI inc. in Seattle, and
they shipped the wrong size (I ordered 1" shaft, 2" shaft tube, they
sent 1 1/8" x 1 3/4). Then somebody tells me that I really didn't
want dripless at all because when they fail, you sink.
Anybody know anything from rumour or personal experience about these
things?
It's a major hassle tightening the packing on my boat- very hard to
reach unless you're that comic book guy from the Fantastic Four with
the really long arms...
Mike
There seems to be a fair amount of hysteria about the risks of
"catastrophic failure" with these things. I have had three of them on
three different boats and I love them. I think it is helpful to see
what the builders of better boats are doing. I believe many/most are
building their boats with the dripless shaft seals.
I discussed this with one of the Worstells, who build Valiant as to
their approach to the dripless shaft seals, which they install on the
Valiants. He told me that he couldn't foresee any reason why the PYI
would be any more prone to failure that a traditional stuffing box.
He went on to say that over the years, he had seen more damage to
sailboats from water in the boat than any other single cause. Leaks,
stuffing boaxes, that sort of thing. In other words, keep your boat
dry. It makes sense to me.
I am not aware of builders of quality boats shying away from them out
of any safety concerns. That should tell you something.
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