"katy" wrote in message
om...
Yeah..we havwe to do that sometime in March...have to go down to
Oriental to do it since we draft too deep for the boatyards here and have
been stuck in the mud there once before..and we weren't too pleased with
them anyway...we'vew been having the divers scrape the bottom seasonaly
and it's pretty clean and they replaced one zinc last time but we need the
stuffing box repacked and stuff like that (and no, Doug...I do not want to
do that in the water...not that I have no faith in you guys but...)

go on Katy, try it afloat. It will not sink your boat.
First check that you have the right sized square section packing. Measure
the shaft diameter and the diameter of the stern tube's housing for it. Both
these things can be done before you loosen anything off.
Subtract the shaft diameter from the other one and divide by two. This gives
you the size of the packing you need. Obtain a length of the correct
section packing
Then wrap the packing around the shaft and with something really sharp like
a Stanley knife cut through both parts of the packing so you have a turn of
packing that just fits the shaft when the two ends butt together. Make
about four of these and you are set to go.
Slide the packing gland compressor piece out along the shaft and with
something sharp pointed pick out and remove the first turn of packing. There
are probably three turns in all so you can also remove the second. Very
little water should be coming in as yet and unless you feel brave enough to
take the last one out as well you can just replace the two you have taken
out-staggering the joints- and these two new packings will seal the gland
again. The last one can be left in situ until your next haulout.
The secret of success for this job is to have the right size of packing
already cut to exact size before you dismantle anything. You cannot do a
decent job of cutting packing to length when water is coming in all around
the job, but the actual quantity of water coming in with no packing at all
in place is not going to sink your boat if you are ready with the right size
pieces of packing to put back in.
You are able to do this because you have a traditional stuffing box. Mine is
a 'dripless' system with a carbon seal running on a polished face and to
replace it I would not only have to haul out but also would need to pull the
shaft right out.