Dripless is dripping

Ok, all of this is helping me feel less anxious. When I started the engine for the first time a few weeks ago I heard (and still hear) a whistling/chirping noise where the raw water/exhaust exists the boat. I wonder if the two are related now, air is getting pulled in from a leak. You can hear the whistle/chirping in this video:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tzUjwcP7WT3qnFwg8
 
This! Should have nothing to do with the sea cock

Usually these leak a little when running, then when they get real bad, they leak a lot… would suspect like someone else posted, they had a leak somewhere else and was tracking down the the shaft seal.
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.
 
A leak before the transmission is not going to run down the transmission and up to the shaft and back down the shaft and to the silicone hose etc. The small hose that feeds the seal is going to be from the seacock, so most likely that is not sealing correctly. Those small clamps suck and will pinch the hose causing a leak.

Pull that hose and plug both sides so there is no water leak from them. Dry the entire area and turn the seacock back on. Also tape a rag completely around the shaft by the coupling, that will stop any water possibly running down the shaft. No water, you found your source, still have water then further investigation of the seal and blue silicone hose assembly.
 
A leak before the transmission is not going to run down the transmission and up to the shaft and back down the shaft and to the silicone hose etc. The small hose that feeds the seal is going to be from the seacock, so most likely that is not sealing correctly. Those small clamps suck and will pinch the hose causing a leak.

Pull that hose and plug both sides so there is no water leak from them. Dry the entire area and turn the seacock back on. Also tape a rag completely around the shaft by the coupling, that will stop any water possibly running down the shaft. No water, you found your source, still have water then further investigation of the seal and blue silicone hose assembly.
I am learning towards this. If you look at the video I recorded the bilge starboard of the shaft, it's all dry. I also put my hands up in there, dry. I ran my hand along the shaft/seal from the leak forward to the transmission, all dry. I wrapped the shaft/seal with a shop rag, all dry except where the leak is. At around 59 seconds into the video you can see exactly where it's dripping.

I see "STONG PRODUCTS" on the seal in the video. A quick Google search suggests that is TIDERSMARINE STRONG Seal.
 
I am learning towards this. If you look at the video I recorded the bilge starboard of the shaft, it's all dry. I also put my hands up in there, dry. I ran my hand along the shaft/seal from the leak forward to the transmission, all dry. I wrapped the shaft/seal with a shop rag, all dry except where the leak is. At around 59 seconds into the video you can see exactly where it's dripping.

I see "STONG PRODUCTS" on the seal in the video. A quick Google search suggests that is TIDERSMARINE STRONG Seal.
Yes it is. It’s a lip seal — molded rubber with a lip that seals around the shaft. It is cooled by the small hose, but I think usually that is fed by the cooling system, not the seacock. But trace it and see.
 
Nope that is raw water.
I was under the impression this was raw water, off the sea water pump, which wouldn’t be able to push (gravity wise) past the impeller. I would have thought the water that cools the shaft would be off the impeller. You would want more force than just an open seacock to feed this important part imo
 
@mrsrobinson
If the seacock is affecting this, this is more of what I think is going on.

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.
 
I was under the impression this was raw water, off the sea water pump, which wouldn’t be able to push (gravity wise) past the impeller. I would have thought the water that cools the shaft would be off the impeller. You would want more force than just an open sea dock to feed this important part imo

All raw water is after the pump, the seacock goes directly to the pump then disperses. So yes raw water.

Golfman25 referenced the cooling system, which to me is the anti freeze portion or what cools the engine. Raw water then cools the anti-freeze through heat exchangers.
 
All raw water is after the pump, the seacock goes directly to the pump then disperses. So yes raw water.
It surprises me that it would push past a non moving impeller like that. It will be interesting to see what it is…
 
It surprises me that it would push past a non moving impeller like that. It will be interesting to see what it is…

Why? It's not a bad leak. The impellers are not hard stops for the water and some will always bypass it. Not enough to matter though. But enough for that trickle of water he's seeing.
 
The small hose is cooling water for the seal bearing. The water for that cooling is from the engine's raw water pump and can be a connection on the gear cooler or anywhere in the raw water system.
On these older Tides assemblies every time something in the shaft is adjusted (like alignment of the engine) the large tube on the shaft log must be loosened and allowed to re-center around the shaft. Otherwise there will be constant off-center pressure and wear on the Delrin bearing in the seal assembly. Once that Delrin bearing wears out the lip seal will never seal again. Same if the bearing cooling should plug up.
These will tend to show leakage where those back clamps are due to the slope of the assembly and indicates water leakage from the cooling hose/fitting or the large hose. Lip seal leaks seem to drip off of the seal housing and not run back.
The lip seals arrangement is designed to be changed in the water if you have a spare on the shaft. It's not a big deal do do the change.

If these are original to your boat then probably a good idea to update next haul.
 
I was under the impression this was raw water, off the sea water pump, which wouldn’t be able to push (gravity wise) past the impeller. I would have thought the water that cools the shaft would be off the impeller. You would want more force than just an open seacock to feed this important part imo
It is, I traced it. I learned this as well when the mechanic was going to do a Barnacle Buster flush last year on everything at one time (versus what I did which was one cooler at a time), he said he'd have to plug up the dripless.
 
Why? It's not a bad leak. The impellers are not hard stops for the water and some will always bypass it. Not enough to matter though. But enough for that trickle of water he's seeing.
I thought the same until I saw it. It took a few minutes for the water to make it's way there once I opened the seacock. I got excited at first thinking I had solved the leak, but after a few minutes is started again.

The bilge was bone dry all winter. It's been bone dry idling the engines at the dock. I idled out for about 20 minutes Saturday, heard the aft bilge pump come on (heard the water pumping over), which is very odd on this boat. I opened the engine hatch, saw a little water at the aft pump area, and thought it may have been from washing the boat. I soaked/washed the boat, including all of the canvas. When I got back to the slip after the cruise it came on again. That is when I noticed the trickle.

Is it safe to run the boat until a haul out in a few weeks? I don't want to be under power, this gets much worse (can it?) and the bilge pumps can't keep up with it.


I was wondering "how tight" was too tight for those clamps so I went very slow and did not turn them that much.
 
... Is it safe to run the boat until a haul out in a few weeks? I don't want to be under power, this gets much worse (can it?) and the bilge pumps can't keep up with it. ...

If the seal is leaking then no it is not safe as it could get much worse very quickly. If it is the hose, as I think it is, then yes it is safe to run the boat.

Only you can answer any of this, it is very unclear as to what you think you saw. But if closing the seacock stopped the water then it's not the seal. It can only be the seal cooling hose.
 
Semantics, but raw water is still part of the cooling system.

Yes raw water is part of the cooling system, but we're talking in specifics here. It's obvious it part of the cooling system no?
 
I thought the same until I saw it. It took a few minutes for the water to make it's way there once I opened the seacock. I got excited at first thinking I had solved the leak, but after a few minutes is started again.

The bilge was bone dry all winter. It's been bone dry idling the engines at the dock. I idled out for about 20 minutes Saturday, heard the aft bilge pump come on (heard the water pumping over), which is very odd on this boat. I opened the engine hatch, saw a little water at the aft pump area, and thought it may have been from washing the boat. I soaked/washed the boat, including all of the canvas. When I got back to the slip after the cruise it came on again. That is when I noticed the trickle.

Is it safe to run the boat until a haul out in a few weeks? I don't want to be under power, this gets much worse (can it?) and the bilge pumps can't keep up with it.



I was wondering "how tight" was too tight for those clamps so I went very slow and did not turn them that much.
The cooling hose is pressurized -- see step 15.
https://www.tidesmarine.com/sureseal/install

It's impossible to say if the boat is safe. I think so, subject to a "real" leak opening up. Until we can find the actual source, who the hell knows. Since the seacock seems to "fix" the leak, I don't think it's the seal.
 
Yes raw water is part of the cooling system, but we're talking in specifics here. It's obvious it part of the cooling system no?
I have no idea what engines he has, or if he's raw water cooled or closed cooled. Bottom line, that hose doesn't come of the sea cock and there no reason that the sea cock should start/stop the leak while the system isn't pressurized.
 

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