T&T: Advise on Packing

[Jim Gano]

About a year ago, I repacked both stuffing boxes on my
twin diesel (120 Lehmans)42 GB.  I used Teflon packing
and the "green" dripless, moldable packing from West
Marine.

As I recall, the dripless, moldable was pretty pricey
stuff.  I bought one container of it and split the
amount between the two stuffing boxes. As instructed,
I put one ring of Teflon packing in first, then the
dripless, moldable and then one more (I think it was
one, maybe two) ring of Teflon packing.

Since putting it in, I have put a couple hundred hours
on the boat.  

After each run of the boat, the stuffing boxes leak
(sometimes a drip every 6-10 seconds and sometimes a
steady stream)....so I re-tighten until the dripping
stops...

At this point, I am not too impressed with the
product....  

Any idea what I might have done wrong?  I thought I
had the stuffing boxes pretty full of
packing/dripless, moldable when I used one container
for two boxes....

Should I/can I buy another container of dripless,
moldable  and supplement what I already have?  That
is, take off the first Teflon ring and put some more
dripless, moldable in the box and then replace the
Teflon packing? 

Or do I need to start over completely?  

<Bob,
<The green solid and goop are dripless packing
<material. My recollection
<is to install one round of the regular packing (may
<want to switch to
<Gore)then a couple of rounds of green solid (role
<into a rope) coated
<with green goo and then one more regular
<packing........I used it on my sailboat and it
<worked as advertised. 

Jim Gano
Seminole 42 GB


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