Dripless is dripping

[mrsrobinson]

Took the boat out for a shakedown Cruise today. Overall did well, lost about 200 rpms, I think the bottom is dirty. Noticed water in the bilge when I returned. Noticed a trickle and traced it to the starboard dripless shaft. It's a pretty decent flow from the AFT side. I tightened up all of the clamps, no better. Closed the raw water seacock and it stops.

Thoughts?

It's dripping in the highlighted circled area.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jzfv1jyQ1Li79cLQ7

 

[Chris-380]

I did a lot of research on this. There is a couple videos out there on YouTube

no mechanics around here knew anything about it, seems like they don’t go bad much in fresh water. Seems straight forward though.


It looks like your spare is still there. There are videos how to do it, even in the water.

here is a video to give you an idea how to replace the seal with your spare

 

[dtfeld]

Are those Tides Seals? At about the 8-9 second mark, the hose looks to have a cut in it, and it seem like the water is coming from where the hose is attached to the shaft tube. Can you confirm where the water is coming from?

 

[Golfman25]

If you have tightened the clamps, Feel underneath the seal. It may be leaking there and running down to where you see it.

 

[Skybolt]

That leak is coming from the rubber hose to fiberglass through hull. As mentioned try tightening the clamps. Although I would consider replacing the clamps with t-bolt clamps. Hopefully the silicone hose isn't ruptured. Use a nut driver or 1.4" socket to tighten the clamps, they will twist less if those are used.

 

[mrsrobinson]

I did tighten all the clamps, the small rubber hose one was very loose, the other four were pretty tight, same result. Back home now, will be on the boat again this weekend and will try again.

If it's the small rubber hose that supplies raw water why would it be leaking on the stern/aft side. I thought it was the rubber hose as well but looking at the video and the pictures, it's stripping on the right right before it goes into the through hull

 

[mrsrobinson]

I did a lot of research on this. There is a couple videos out there on YouTube

no mechanics around here knew anything about it, seems like they don’t go bad much in fresh water. Seems straight forward though.


It looks like your spare is still there. There are videos how to do it, even in the water.

here is a video to give you an idea how to replace the seal with your spare

Skip needs to crawl up into my bilge and do it for me, really? They make it look so easy.

 

[Chris-380]

With gas engines, it would be tight, I am just guessing that it’s tighter with diesels…

 

[K-DUB]

Mine was running from the seal and showing up in the same area. The video is for the new style tides. The style you have was like mine and it was a bit of a nightmare. The seal is recessed in the tube and held in with a snap ring. With limited working space it was no easy task getting out or getting the new one in. If it turns out to be the seal, I wouldn’t recommend doing it in the water. Or at least hang it in the slings. I now have the new style on both sides.

 

[Sgrochow]

Took the boat out for a shakedown Cruise today. Overall did well, lost about 200 rpms, I think the bottom is dirty. Noticed water in the bilge when I returned. Noticed a trickle and traced it to the starboard dripless shaft. It's a pretty decent flow from the AFT side. I tightened up all of the clamps, no better. Closed the raw water seacock and it stops.

Thoughts?

It's dripping in the highlighted circled area.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jzfv1jyQ1Li79cLQ7

View attachment 144371 View attachment 144373 View attachment 144374

Just a thought.

Chased a similar issue recently. It's hard to see in the video, are you 100 percent sure the dripless is leaking? I ask because mine looked exactly like that last week. Put a piece of foil under the seal and no drips.

Turns out water was leaking out of the starboard impeller cover plate AND out of the fuel cooler hose that I replaced last year. (clamp had loosened) Buried under the exhaust tube so I couldn't see or hear it drip. Most of the flow ran aft but some found its way along that shaft tube and spilled out, looked exactly like a seal leak. Closed the seacock and flow stopped.

 

[KevinC]

I just had mine done over the winter and unless you're 100% confident that it is the lip seal and that your spare is 100% serviceable I would recommend a haul.

When they did mine they initially felt it was the seal BUT after digging in it turned out to be a failed housing.and the inner race was fused to the shaft. If we tried to do this in the water it may have only replaced the seal and then would have had to dig in again when that would not have fixed it.

So it would have been double labor plus another haul. With winter maintenance we confirmed it was a clogged fitting starving water supply to the seal.

I will post more about that separately.

-Kevin

 

[mrsrobinson]

I just had mine done over the winter and unless you're 100% confident that it is the lip seal and that your spare is 100% serviceable I would recommend a haul.

When they did mine they initially felt it was the seal BUT after digging in it turned out to be a failed housing.and the inner race was fused to the shaft. If we tried to do this in the water it may have only replaced the seal and then would have had to dig in again when that would not have fixed it.

So it would have been double labor plus another haul. With winter maintenance we confirmed it was a clogged fitting starving water supply to the seal.

I will post more about that separately.

-Kevin

I'm not 100% confident about anything at this point, still trying to figure it out.

 

[Chris-380]

I'm not 100% confident about anything at this point, still trying to figure it out.

If it was me,
I would triple check and make sure exactly where the water is coming from. If it was the seal, I would probably haul out (at some point, I have seen much worse amounts of water leaking in the videos) pull the props and have them balanced, pull the shafts and install new housing, seal and spare on both motors. I would try to get through the season. Verify it’s not leaking while sitting in the water. I don’t think that is a ton (yet) of water coming in. Just a guess though….

 

[mrsrobinson]

It's difficult to see exactly where the water is coming from as there is little to no room where the shaft meets the hull. I did place a thin towel under and and it appears the source is towards the aft/stern. Now, is that dripping from somewhere forward, I don't thin so, everything is dry to the touch up until then. See my 3rd pic, that's where it's dripping (there's a drop of water in that pic), at those two clamps on the rear/stern/aft side, furthest from the transmission. You can see it in the video too, it's a pretty good flow.

 

[dtfeld]

Did the leak get worse when you tightened? If so maybe a split in the hose, or the clamp cut the hose?

You have a spare seal on that shaft. You can replace that and see if that stops the leak ,and can be done it the water.

Beyond that, I'd be thinking or pulling out and replacing the entire seal assembly, especially if you don't know how old they are. I did it last year DIY. Its hard work, but can be done. The seals are pretty inexpensive.

 

[mrsrobinson]

No change in the leak as I tightened the 4 big clamps and the smaller one on the black rubber hose. I tightened with the seacock open to see if it reduced the flow.

I don't know enough about these seals to know how serious this is. Is this a show stopper leak, meaning don't run the boat until it's resolved? It stops when I close the seacock, so that is good. I had some anxiety "do I need to haul the boat out immediately" yesterday when it was not stopping, thinking it was coming from the hull where the shaft exists the boat. Then I thought "it could be from the seacock raw water", closed it, waited, leak stopped.

The question is can I run the boat/that engine until I can haul the boat (which will be soon for bottom painting and detailing) or should I not run it?

The blue circle is where I see the leak. When the seacock is open it's a pretty steady flow.

 

[Golfman25]

No change in the leak as I tightened the 4 big clamps and the smaller one on the black rubber hose. I tightened with the seacock open to see if it reduced the flow.

I don't know enough about these seals to know how serious this is. Is this a show stopper leak, meaning don't run the boat until it's resolved? It stops when I close the seacock, so that is good. I had some anxiety "do I need to haul the boat out immediately" yesterday when it was not stopping, thinking it was coming from the hull where the shaft exists the boat. Then I thought "it could be from the seacock raw water", closed it, waited, leak stopped.

The question is can I run the boat/that engine until I can haul the boat (which will be soon for bottom painting and detailing) or should I not run it?

The blue circle is where I see the leak. When the seacock is open it's a pretty steady flow.

View attachment 144420

The part that makes zero sense is the seacock. For a shaft seal it should make no difference. That blue tube is where your shafts exit the hull. On the other side is 100,000+ gallons of water. The water flows into that tube until it is stopped by the shaft seal. There is no seacock involved.

I think you're leaking from somewhere else. Trace the hose from the seacock to the engine. If any is below the water line, you might have something dripping there. That's the only thing that makes sense to me.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Thanks, that helps. Trying to learn how this dripless works. Raw water flows in from that small black hose for lubricating as I understand it, where does the water go from there? Does is exit the boat or feed back in somewhere?

 

[LMBoat]

The fact that the leak stops when you close the seacock rules out the shaft seal (good idea on closing the seacock for troubleshooting though). The good news is that whatever the cause is, you should be able to repair in the water. Check every clamp/hose from the seacock forward. All you know now is where you SEE water, not where is it COMING from. The leak could be far away from the shaft seal. The first place I would check is where the shaft seal coolant hose comes from (cooler, pump, etc). I have had leaks there. Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[LMBoat]

It exits the boat via the stern tube