Just a week ago a dock neighbor of ours had this exact twisting action
completely separate their bellows on a PYI seal.  The only indication of a
problem from the helm was the fwap, fwap, fwap sound of the vent hose
whipping around and hitting the inside of the hull.  Evidently the
stainless ring a lightly seized to the carbon ring.  Seized together the
carbon ring rotated with the shaft and twisted up the vent hose until the
slack was out and then amputated the vent at its remote barb fitting.
Fortunately enough, a remarkably small amount of flooding occurred.  When
the seal was righted in its orientation the leak stopped almost completely
despite the circumferential tear.  The owner knew that the seal needed
replaced and in fact was about to depart for the boat yard just a few
hundred yards away so that they could have the seal replaced during the
winter.  His other shaft seal looked just about as bad too!

On the PYI seals and others with a bellows design, the service life is
typically 3 to 5 years before recommended replacement.  The bellows has to
be flexible so a thinner material is used.  Of course the constant stress
of compressing the bellows is an additional factor degrading the rubber.
In the case of PYI this $2 piece of hose costs ~$100.

In the case of the Lasdrop Gen 2 the $2 hose is ridged and thick to resist
the compression of the SS spring in the seal pack.  The service interval is
8 to 10 years.


If I was to go back to a packing style seal what would be involved?


Josh Muckley
S/V Sea Hawk
1989 C&C 37+
Solomons, MD

On Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 12:17 PM Len Mitchell via CnC-List <
cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote:

> Josh, Shawn is correct. The 6 inch or so piece of hose on the original
> packing gland. I would bet a high number of boats still have it in service.
> Mine was 20 years old when I replaced it and the outer rubber layer had
> cracks in it. There isn’t a lot of water pressure on it but it gets a
> little twisting force. Any original rubber hose should be gone by now. Len
>
> Sent from my iPad
> _______________________________________________
>
> Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions.  Each
> and every one is greatly appreciated.  If you want to support the list -
> use PayPal to send contribution --   https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
>
>
_______________________________________________

Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions.  Each and 
every one is greatly appreciated.  If you want to support the list - use PayPal 
to send contribution --   https://www.paypal.me/stumurray

Reply via email to