Episode 6 - She May Swim
Today armed with new stuffing box hose and Lloyds marine rated hose clamps imported from London, England and 1/8 inch packing from the local chandler I attacked the problem again.
On first attempt to install the hose the I was unable to shove it all the way onto the stern tube. I had to grind away a bit more of the fiberglass blob under the stern tube.
After grinding the stuffing box hose still did not want to slide onto the stern tube. A little Dawn detergent inside the hose did the trick.
Once the hose was on a few quick twist with a 7.5mm socket fastened down the best hose clamps I have ever used.
My dive knife made fast work of cutting the packing into 4 nice little circles, 3 of which I used. I was able to lay the packing nicely in the little stuffing box and slip it over the tip of the prop shaft.
Getting the shaft all the way through the stuffing box and into the shaft coupling required a bit of work and would have been much easier had I a helper, but I eventually with a bit of twisting, shoving and tapping got the shaft deep into the coupling and tightened down.
I wish I could have gotten the aft most hose clamp further aft, but the fiberglass blob prevented it. The previous clamp had been embed in part of the mess. I felt like grinding blind was playing Russian Roulette with both the hull and the stern tube, so I settled for what is in the photo. I was able to confirm that both aft clamps are on the stern tube
The only thing I have to do now before I splash is reconnect all the hoses and wires. That is Sunday's project.
I have scheduled her to splash on Monday if the weather holds.