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Monday, July 02, 2007

MOLLY & THE PROBLEM

Here`s Molly, no it`s not a woman as some friends had thought. Molly has come to stay on board for a week while my son Andy and Bev plus the grandchildren are away on a weeks
holiday. At first she was not keen on eating but as the days went by she realised the family were not coming back straight away so she settled down and now demolishes her food as soon as i put it down for her.
This is what gave me the problem on board and caused me to call out a Vetus engineer. It`s the bit that stops the water coming in where the prop shaft exits the boat from the engine/g`box to


the propeller. The rubber seals inside that shiny gold bit decided they would let the water drip in, now as you can imagine water inside a boat is not a good idea. The engineer said it was unusual for the seals to go so soon and after checking the engine alignment was ok his only thought was it had not been properly installed from day one. Anyway all ok now and my engine bay is bone dry.
The gadget to the right of the shaft is the bilge pump and will auto pump out any water as it is fitted with a float switch.

4 comments:

eeyore said...

"Dry as a bone", what's that? In our boat the stern tube gland has none of these new fangled mechanical seals but a packing gland that is grease filled. After cruising for a bit it always drips water and the bilge pump is there to pump it out!

If it drips too fast we grease it a bit more or tighten the two gland nuts that squeeze the packing a bit tighter.

Les Biggs said...

Hi eeyore
Yes on ANDY/TINAs boat they have just what you describe and he only recently re placed the packing. On mine what you see in the pic is all there is. It has no greaser to turn down as norm or no packing gland. All i have to do is squeeze a little grease about 6 monthly through a hole after removing a small bolt.
No water should get past the seal and so i have a dry engine bay.
Now as to what`s the better system is open for debate and i can`t say untill i have used this one for some years what i prefer.

Keith Lodge said...

Hi Les.
It was lovely to meet you in Stone, as you qued at the bottom of Newcastle Road Lock.
It is a small world living on the cut. Hopefully we will get to meet up again and we will be onboard Hadar. Misty Lady is going to her new home next week, so we are moving onboard Hadar whilst she is being finished.
Have a safe journey and chat soon.
Jo

Les Biggs said...

Hi Jo
Yes nice to meet you as well.
Have put a link to Hadar on the blog.

NB Valerie & Steam Train by Les Biggs

NB Valerie & Steam Train by Les Biggs