E32-200 stuffing box (tight fit)

[Peter K]

I am having trouble removing the old flax and replacing. Wondering if I need to remove the shaft to get it done. The attached picture shows how little room there is between the stuffing box nut and the engine. Anyone have this same issue or a solution?
Thanks - Peter

 

[Alan Gomes]

That really is tight. It must have been quite a PITA to pack it in the first place.

Maybe it would be a good idea to remove the shaft and replace that coupler with a split coupler that also does not have as much depth as your current one, which looks quite deep to me. Here's a place you might check for starters, and compare some of the dimensions they show on their site with what you have currently to see if you can recoup some space. Again, if you are going to replace it anyway I think you'd do well to go for a split coupler for any future removals you might need to do.

 

[Dave G.]

Oh, that is crazy tight. If your pulling the shaft I would suggest replacing with a PSS shaft seal but not sure you could get it in there even with a shorter coupler.

 

[jrlago55]

For the solar panel I used 4 100 watt flexible sunpower panels. I also built an aluminum frame to mount them on top of the Bimini. The whole setup weighs about 45 pounds. Because of the 25 volt input limitation of the DCC50S box, they are connected in parallel. I’ll dig some pictures

 

[tenders]

What did you end up doing with this shaft? It will be incredibly difficult to extract from the coupling. You *might* be able to sneak a pick into the slot, dig out the old packing, and send new rings of packing down into the seal one ring at a time. Won't be pretty but the alternatives are very ugly.

 

[Loren Beach]

I am having trouble removing the old flax and replacing. Wondering if I need to remove the shaft to get it done. The attached picture shows how little room there is between the stuffing box nut and the engine. Anyone have this same issue or a solution?
Thanks - Peter

That seems "too close" to my eye. Can the engine be re- mounted forward a couple inches, perchance??

 

[Dave G.]

For a 1" shaft the PSS shaft seal is a little less than 7" uncompressed. About 1.75 - 2" of that goes over the shaft log so you need a minimum of 5+ inches between the end of the shaft log and the back of the coupler. You would definitely need to get a shorter coupler. I just did this same thing on my boat last spring & ended up replacing the coupler, the seal(rebuild kit), and the shaft as I had to cut it off the coupler. In looking at that packing gland again it has to be at least 5" long so I think you can get a shaft seal in there. I had to drop my rudder to get the shaft out so you may have to check on that possibility....

 

[goldenstate]

Here are my notes on changing the stuffing box flax on my 32-200. Almost as tight as that shown by the OP.

 

[tenders]

“Dried grease caterpillars of hate”

 

[goldenstate]

“Dried grease caterpillars of hate”

Changing flax is not a fun job.