1988 300 Weekender Packing gland

[Sea Bandit]

Looking for assistance, changing out my risers and I see a line goes from riser to shaft as if I have a mechanical seal. I have packing glands and am wondering if I need to hook up the line from the riser to the shaft, for that matter why is the line even there. I could understand if it was a mechanical seal, but it’s not.
Thanks for any help or guidance.

 

[Sublimetime]

some stuffing boxes tend to fill with air when underway, If this is the case it causes the packing to run hot because the packing has no water to cool it. The hose fitting introduces water under pressure to fill the void around the shaft.

On some models of searay, the factory installs bronze rings on the shaft just outside of the stuffing box to force the water back up into the log to keep it all filled with water and cool. My 390 had these.

 

[dwna1a]

I learn something new every month here...thank you