Comp TS6M Prop shaft gland nut

[UKandH]

How much water drip do you allow on the propshaft gland nut?
Mine was leaking enough to start the auto bilge very 2-3 minutes so was quite loose :(
I have fitted new wax rope and need to know how tight to do the gland nut, im guessing a drip every few minutes is about right to keep it lubricated.


Any advice ?

[chris young]

Others can chime in on wax, I'm not an expert, I use gore tex, but one drip every few minutes I'm sure is way too tight. I'd start with something around 1 drip every 10 seconds or so until someone who's experienced with wax chimes in. If you over tighten you don't get the cooling from the water and the shaft will get too hot.

[UKandH]

OK cool, im going to drop it in the lake today to take a look and adjust as all the trim is out being recovered this week so im doing basic maintenance and checks.

Ill adjust it so that i get about 10 per minute and see how we go, ill do a few runs of the course to set up my new Perfect Pass and keep an eye on it.

[mlaosa]

I learned the hard way about over-tightening the wax packing. Did you stagger the ends of the wax pieces so none of the ends line up together? That can cause a pretty major leak. Whatever you do, don't tighten it too much. Like Chris young said, a drip every 8-10 seconds is what I was told is correct by a marine tech. Switched over to the gore-tex last year and seems to be working perfect.

[UKandH]

Yes they are staggered, i am getting about 20-30 DPM at the moment which is much better than the constant leak i was getting, i can tweak it a bit once its settled down.

My shaft is 1", what size Gortex seal did you buy? I might upgrade to this at the end of the season

[mlaosa]

Mine is also 1" shaft. I bought the 1/4" from ski dim.

[docdrs]

The rate is actually 1 drop every 15 - 30 seconds FYI. Thats 2-4 drops a minute. Before I had a dripless I had mine at a drop every 2-3 minutes. .02

[UKandH]

Thanks for the info people :)

Looks like i will go dripless later this year when i have actually made more use of the boat :D

[SquamInboards]

Docdrs is spot on, and I would also recommend the gore-tex stuff. It seems to run cooler with less frequent drips. But the wax stuff is fine, too. Be sure to check it again after a few hard runs, then again after a few more times using the boat. I've always had to adjust, then re-adjust a couple times initially, then it's good for the rest of the season or maybe even two seasons with the gore-tex. But then we put a lot of hours on the boat, so I go through it faster than most.