V-Drive cooling water exits where??

[MrJake]

So, I'm brand new to the V-Drive. Been an inboard guy my whole life.

Today I put a hose to my 200V to get her de-winterized. When I turned the water, water was poured out around the prop shaft right where it exits the boat. At first I thought I had an engine hose disconnected and the water was leaking out the drain hole. But...it was coming out around the prop shaft.

I take it, that's where the cooling water exits after passing thru the V-Drive??

Motor ran great, good temp, no leaks inside the engine compartment.

Thanks for helping a NEWB.

[MrJake]

Or.........is the water from a dripless stuff box??

[charlesml3]

That's exactly what it is and is completely normal.

-Charles

[MrJake]

The second thing....dripless stuff box??

That's new to me as well. I've always had an old school stuff box with Gortex packing.

Thanks Charles

[charlesml3]

The second thing....dripless stuff box??

That's new to me as well. I've always had an old school stuff box with Gortex packing.

Thanks Charles

So this is one of those things that sounds like a big deal and really isn't. The old-school stuffing boxes would drip. They were supposed to drip and over the course of an entire day, they'd let in a few pints of water. Nothing to worry about and people jumping in the water and getting back in the boat put WAY more water in the bilge. Anyway, people complained about the stuffing box dripping so Nautique offered it as an option for a while. Eventually it just became standard equipment.

But to answer your original question, some of the water comes out the stuffing box, the rest eventually goes out the exhaust.

-Charles

[functionoverfashion]

On a related note: when I winterized my v-drive for the first time, I noticed a lot of the pink non-toxic antifreeze going out that same way instead of into the engine, as I was trying to run it through the engine after draining the water. The next time I just pinched that line off (gently) with a small clamp so less would escape that way. You could do that when running the engine on a hose, but in that case, so long as enough water is getting to the raw water pump and to the engine, no big deal. In the case of the a/f, I didn't want to dump an extra gallon on the ground for no reason.

Of all the things I like about the v-drive, winterizing is NOT one of them. Such a PITA compared to my old direct drive. But it's only once a year.