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Stern gland/ Venus prop shaft


tagulablue

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Photo as promised... the muck below prop wasn't there until this incident and can only be described as like the dregs at the bottom of a chip pan! The boat is going into their dry dock tomorrow and I am taking a friend with me for guidance. Will report back

20170705_172724.jpg

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You have to wonder what they removed to put the packing in and where they put it? It can't have been anyone with any experience who did the job or they would have sensed something wrong, even if they did not know of Vetus seals and how they work.

I think I would bite the bullet and never want anyone from that yard within a hundred miles of my boat. If it does end up in their dry dock, I would have to monitor their every move.

Edited by Richard10002
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34 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

You have to wonder what they removed to put the packing in and where they put it?

I presume someone undid the three bolts holding the seal housing and slid that along the propshaft. Looked inside and thought "no packing of grease - better put some in".  Tightening the seal housing back in would have made it all very tight.  Then when run it would have got very hot, burnt the grease hence the crud and almost certainly blocked off the seal vent.  As a result it is likely that the rubber material inside the bit behind the seal housing has also been damaged.

I would want the whole unit replaced with a new one.

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6 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

You have to wonder what they removed to put the packing in and where they put it? 

My money would have been on them doing  nothing but add it to the bill if it weren't for the smoke! The mind boggles. :(

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Photo as promised... the muck below prop wasn't there until this incident and can only be described as like the dregs at the bottom of a chip pan! The boat is going into their dry dock tomorrow and I am taking a friend with me for guidance. Will report back

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3 minutes ago, tagulablue said:

Photo as promised... the muck below prop wasn't there until this incident and can only be described as like the dregs at the bottom of a chip pan! The boat is going into their dry dock tomorrow and I am taking a friend with me for guidance. Will report back

De ja vu

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As promised an update...Breath....all ok. As he looked in engine bay he realised he'd been confusing it with another boat... He couldn't explain the smoke and debris but cleaned the engine bay out and we are going to monitor over next couple of days. He showed me the blue silicon in the seal so I felt much calmer. He asked to look at original invoice and compared with his notes I had been charged for packing stern gland instead of silicon in seal. He refund me the 40 plus vat ...Apologised again and then gave me the bad news that I needed new engine mounts, Happy with how they dealt with everything and whilst we haven't solved the riddle of the smoke I have  promised to check bay everytime I've run the engine and report back to him.  Thanks for all your  help it was very much appreciated.

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Did he undo the four screws to show you nothing was behind the seal?

Did he slide the rubber sleeve forward on the shaft and show you nothing was in that end of the assembly?

The crap and smoke all but proves something weird had gone on. I know I have a nasty suspicious mind but I think, on balance, the whole truth was being kept from you.

  • Greenie 1
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Photo as promised... the muck below prop wasn't there until this incident and can only be described as like the dregs at the bottom of a chip pan! The boat is going into their dry dock tomorrow and I am taking a friend with me for guidance. Will report back

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1 minute ago, tagulablue said:

Photo as promised... the muck below prop wasn't there until this incident and can only be described as like the dregs at the bottom of a chip pan! The boat is going into their dry dock tomorrow and I am taking a friend with me for guidance. Will report back

De ja vu

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If they packed that gland, however they did it, with packing an grease it would almost certainly have run hot. The lube in the packing would have melted and so would the grease and the packing probably shredded. How the packing got out I have no idea unless it generated sufficient   pressure to "blow" the seal.

I note we do not have answers to those two questions I posed above.

I think I am going to ignore this thread now.

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Yes Tony friend checked it all with him and seal was all intact and no grease where it shouldn't be. He was convinced that it was just a case of telling me the wrong info by confusing boats but he'd already said he would cover all costs if he had made any mistake. I

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49 minutes ago, tagulablue said:

don't know match point.

No, you don't -- clue 1: Mach as in Mach number. Clue 2: point 005 as in 0.005. About three and a half mph. No offence taken though!

I did wonder about that mess under the stern gland -- I thought it might be spilt oil from a careless oil change.

23 minutes ago, tagulablue said:

He was convinced that it was just a case of telling me the wrong info by confusing boats

I think there is a 90% chance he is right about that.

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Just a thought, but it looks very clean around the actual seal/shaft. Has this been cleaned since the "event?"
Otherwise I would expect gunge to have been thrown around somewhat and not just lie neatly below in the bilge. I agree it looks more like stuff that has been spilled rather than having emerged from rotating machinery. Maybe it got spilled on the exhaust too hence the smoke?
From experience with dripless glands (no sniggering at the back) I would have thought it would be quite damaged had traditional stuffing been somehow introduced into it? 

Edited by Dylan
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On 06/07/2017 at 09:50, dor said:

 

I would want the whole unit replaced with a new one.

Absolutely!

On 06/07/2017 at 17:29, Tony Brooks said:

Did he undo the four screws to show you nothing was behind the seal?

Did he slide the rubber sleeve forward on the shaft and show you nothing was in that end of the assembly?

The crap and smoke all but proves something weird had gone on. I know I have a nasty suspicious mind but I think, on balance, the whole truth was being kept from you.

Me too! Where did all the smoke and crap in your engine bay come from?

Edited by blackrose
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11 hours ago, blackrose said:

Absolutely!

Me too! Where did all the smoke and crap in your engine bay come from?

The 'engineer' did everything right, just got confused about which boat he'd done and charged 40 quid for something he hadn't done. Perfectly acceptable. Just because someone else had filled the space with smoke and spilt chip pan fat directly under the stern gland, everyone is casting doubt.  Oh ye of little faith! :D

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