Major shaft leak during winterizing?

[mx559]

When I was winterizing my 2001 SAN today, I pulled the raw water pump out and inserted a funnel into the hose coming off the top of the water pump and started to pour antifreeze in when I heard water dripping. I got under the boat and there was a steady stream of water coming from the hole where the drive shaft comes out of the hull.

I put a five gallon bucket under the drive shaft and poured another 2 1/2 gallons in and when it got done dripping into the bucket I had somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 gallons in the bucket. If anyone could tell me what exactly is going on here and what I need to fix the problem I would greatly appreciate it?

[2gofaster]

RE: Major shaft leak during winterizing?

No worries. You have the dripless packing gland. It uses pressurized water off of the raw water pump to lubricate the packing gland and that water goes out the tube the shaft protrudes through.

[Nautique211]

RE: Major shaft leak during winterizing?

I noticed the same on our 05 211 the last few years, but have never seen an issue from it - No leaks into the boat.

[8122pbrainard]

RE: Major shaft leak during winterizing?

2go is correct that it's supposed to do that! What you're doing however is using way too much antifreeze! 5 gals?? Wow!!! After draining the block and manifold, all it really takes is about a half gal. to make sure you get some in the low spots where some water may be trapped. Also, you'll want to pull the hose off the dripless at the log and drain it to. Then pinch it off when adding the antifreeze.

BTW, trying to fill up the complete block with antifreeze to prevent corrosion I feel is a lost cause. You'll never get it completely full plus remember you have plain old water going through it all summer long.

[mx559]

I only put three gallons of antifreeze in, the five gallon bucket was just to catch the drip. I assume if I leaked out 2 gallons in 3 or 4 minutes then I need to tighten up the bolts sround the shaft to slow down the drip, am I correct here? Also if I had that much leak out do you think I even got anything in the block let alone the exhaust manifolds? Thanks guys.

[2gofaster]

No, don't do anything with the bolts around the shaft. Just take the hose off of the dripless gland and plug it for the winter. The dripless gland is vented to the outside. It just doesn't drip inside the hull.

[8122pbrainard]

mx,
Do some reading and understand how a dripless works. You (or someone is feeding you wrong information) are thinking about a standard packing gland that needs to be adjusted. With a dripless, it is a spring loaded carbon or ceramic faced seal that is water lubricated. It MUST have water flowing through it at all times.

[WakeSlayer]

I just ran across this helping a local PN member winterize his Sport 211. I was not looking closely enough and thought we were back flowing water out the intake grate. Once I looked closely and decided it was the shaft, I went inside and discovered the driplless (in the boat) packing. What I thought was odd was that it was coming off the transmission, not at the front (rear) of the motor. A LOT came out of there, guessing near two gallons.
Pete, part of the problem on V-drives is access to the thermostat. It is so much easier to draw the antifreeze through the intake after the strainer. It takes 4-5 gallons to get AF up in to the exhaust manifolds and just start seeing it come out the rear.