shaft seal for my 52c 1986

[rfontanet]

Hi to all.

I am going to replace my shaft seal. I have the original 1986. They have to be replace. The boat is a 52c 1986. The question is PSS pro seals or tides seal or continue with the old system. I have to decide soon. Recommendations. The boat is use in Puerto Rico rough seas. ?????

 

[Boatsb]

Old school never fails as badly as the dripless.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I have had PSS seals for deacdes with no problems. Of that type of shaft seal, I believe they are the best.

 

[rfontanet]

Thank you. I have read about drip-less shaft seal failures can be catastrophic. That is why I am asking.

 

[rfontanet]

Old school never fails as badly as the dripless.

Thanks, I am trying to update the boat with new engineering technology. Reading, almost all new boats come with drip less shaft seals.
Any one knows what are the new Hatteras using?

 

[Boatsb]

New boats will come with dripless.

They also have new shafts which are clean and smooth.

If your not changing the shafts I'd stick with what you have to be safe.

 

[Scarlett]

Agree with Scott, I have completely rewired 2 boats that sank at the dock, both had drip less shaft seals that failed, have never personally seen a conventional seal completely fail, however dry bilges are really nice. I have plastic tubs with small automatic bilge pumps in them right under each shaft seal so water only goes into them, not the entire bilge, works pretty good except in big seas when the water can slosh out. John

 

[jim rosenthal]

Scott is correct about shaft seal failures- the old style units will leak, etc, but seldom will they sink a boat. I have had one problem with a PSS, but it was operator error, not the fault of the unit, and it certainly did not sink the boat. The PSS units are very well made. I have had no experience with the Tides or Lasdrop seals.

 

[Boatsb]

use goretex or tef packing and the drip is minimal.

Remember the engines push water to the dripless seals. If the line breaks ( happens alot) it goes into the bilge, Burns up the nn lubricated seal and your going down.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

The cooling lines on Tides Seals are linked so a failure of one line is covered unless the wrong model (single engine seal) was installed. You'll still be pumping raw water in the bilge if a hose breaks, but from a 1/4" line--manageable.

 

[rustybucket]

Previous owner switched from packing gland to dripless shaft seals before we took possession. I was hesitant to leave them in (engines were out at the time) but we did. I've been pleased with them so far and have approx 300 hours on them this past summer.

Having dry bilges is new to me and I'm kinda digging it lol.

 

[jrbrein]

I have Tides Shaft Seals also.

Like Robert said about redundant cooling lines. I would add that I have in place an extra seal on each shaft ready to go.

Hopefully I will never need to depend on the redundancy but these were key reasons for going with Tides.

And oh yes, the first time in 30 years and 5 boats that I am finally enjoying dry bilges.


Jon

 

[rfontanet]

Scott is correct about shaft seal failures- the old style units will leak, etc, but seldom will they sink a boat. I have had one problem with a PSS, but it was operator error, not the fault of the unit, and it certainly did not sink the boat. The PSS units are very well made. I have had no experience with the Tides or Lasdrop seals.

I imagine that this catastrophic event happens mostly on persons that doesn't drink wine on the engine room while checking everything is OK. Just kidding, but suddenly i realize that being boating for 45 years without a catastrophic issues on my Dads boat nor on my boat do to good preventive care on our boats. This new technology should be nice to have aboard.

 

[Fanfare]

I have had Tides Marine seals for about 20 years. I have never had to replace even one. I have two of the Tides carriers installed on each shaft, so a total of four spare seals per shaft. It seems that about every 10-15 years I have to replace the cutless bearings (probably from the Bahamian water-borne sand) requiring the removal of the shafts so, since the seals have to be put on as the shafts are reinstalled, I put in new ones then. I got 12 years out of the last set with no leaks.

I was dubious about these lip seals bearing directly on the shafts. Hatteras assured me they were installing them as stock so I went along. Who knew?

 

[Pascal]

PSS failure can be catastrophic but afaik Tides failure will not be sinknthe boat. I ve put over 5000 hours in the last 12 years on Tides equipped boats and never had a failure. I ve had dropped a little once in a while but minimal. I put them on my boat during the repower

 

[Reefgeorge]

It’s hard to argue old school with upgraded packing material. They are messier but I also do not know of any failures.

I have tides on my current boat. The seals are amazing. I have spares on the shafts but have never had to use any of them, even after repeated work on the seal assemblies and the bilge is dry. That said, there are some cautions.

The shaft not only rides in the lip seal but it also passes through a composite body material with a very small clearance and a water veneer. There are water hoses going from your engines to the assembly to keep proper cooling and that water veneer full. You have to be certain that those hoses are checked and maintained. Also, if the boat sits marine growth can start seizing the shaft to the body given that thin space. As part of my preflight check I grab those seal bodies and twist them back and forth to make sure they are loose. If the boat has been sitting sometimes I feel the start of some resistance but a few twists and then the turning shaft and your good to go.

I was told once that if you lose cooling water underway and the assembly overheats that the trouble is usually after the boat stops and everything cools down and seizes. Another reason for the preflight check. Normally, the assemblies are nice and loose around the shaft and because of the bellows you can twist them back and forth and even in and out a little. I learned all this because my boat sat due to illness in the family but back when we were using the boat a lot, these Tides seals worked very well and had no issues. Also as mentioned, you need a good clean shaft surface. If there are no grooves then fine grit sandpaper does the trick. You can also change the location on the shaft with the bellows length to an extent.

Never used PSS.

George

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

There is one maintenance item on these seals to which you should pay some attention. The hose clamps should be regularly inspected for corrosion. That means taking them off to give the inside a look. Besides the spare seals on my shafts, I placed two additional clamps on each bellows that can be slid into place on a moment's notice. They're just snug enough to keep them in place.

Fact is, I generally put an extra clamp (or two if both ends are below water line) that can be quickly slid into position on the through hull hoses. I've popped enough clamps over the years just checking them to finally think ahead a bit. If it takes me a few minutes to dig out the right clamp at the dock, I figure that might not be good enough in panic mode.

 

[Reefgeorge]

To build on what Robert said, I referred to a situation in my post above about the system seizing after sitting a long time. Before I knew to check the free movement of the assembly before use, I put the boat in gear at the dock and the seal end twisted with the shaft enough to tear off the coolant lines and rip the bellows to shreds. So now I'm at the dock at 10pm on a Sunday night and I have this shredded bellows hose spraying water everywhere. Bongs wont work - check. Hose clamps don't matter - hell the existing ones held so good thats why everything shredded. Flat rubber stock wont work because is a fluted bellows. I wound up grabbing my stash of old school cloth diapers that I do my final polish pass with and kept wrapping the assembly and clamping them off untill I had this diaper baloon with an amazingly small amount of overall leakage.

Old school cloth diapers saved my arse. Thankfully to Roberts point I was able to find enough large clamps.

George

 

[jrbrein]

Whoa!!!

ReefGeorge and Robert, THANK YOU.

Going shopping for extra hose clamps and diapers (adult size with the nice plastic liners should work for me and the boat).


Jon