Dripless shaft or packing???

[shortlineryan]

I was thinking about putting a dripless shaft seal on my 93 SN. Is it worth the cost and time?? I have 600 hrs on the boat and might just re-due the packing.

[east tx skier]

I had this conversation with my dealer when I was about to redo the packing on my old boat. The service manager described dripless packing as "not exactly maintenance free." I bought flax packing rope from him from $0.40 and called it good. And this was on an older MC where I had to remove the floorboard to get at the packing. With a SN, you have that easy access floor plate to adjust the drip and replace the packing when needed (pretty infrequently in my experience). So unless you just don't want much, if any, water in the bilge, I'd vote for spending the money on something else.

[shortlineryan]

When it gets warmer I will just tighten the packing. I heard the dripless gives you better throttle response, this is off DIM website. With 600 hrs I'm not sure the packing is bad or just needs tightning. How long should the packing last?

[WakeSlayer]

I heard the dripless gives you better throttle response, this is off DIM website.

Ummm, because there is a tablespoon less water in the bilge? I do not understand that statement at all. I looked briefly on DIM's site and did not see this.

[east tx skier]

When it gets warmer I will just tighten the packing. I heard the dripless gives you better throttle response, this is off DIM website. With 600 hrs I'm not sure the packing is bad or just needs tightning. How long should the packing last?

How many drops per minute are you seeing? I am of the mind that more lubrication is better. So I tend to shoot for a drop every second or two at idle. I have a minimal amount of water in my bilge at the end of a lake trip.

I don't know if equating hours with changing packing is the way to go. If the boat has 600 hours on it and you don't know when the packing was last changed, I'd say do it just so you will know when it was last changed. After that, it's probably good for several hundred hours (with proper adjustment for drip rate).