Marinette Boat Forum

What's the recommend stuffing box material? I tried to do some research but everyone on the net is all over the place. GFO? GoreTex? Natural? What are you guys using in your fresh water M's ?

GFO is the only way to go!
Have had it in my Shaft boxes for 7 years have not had to touch it!

safe boating,

dave

Good youtube videio on stuffing box packing.

http://gfopacking.com/

bill

I measured my drive shaft at 1 1/4" is it safe to assume I need 1/4" stuffing. Its a 2 hour drive for me to measure inside of packing nut...

The 1/4 inch is "recommended". but 3/16 inch is FAR easier to use and works the same. Just add another ring.

Jeff

How many rings are you able to fit on the shaft?

We used three (though the item below says four) and the slits should be staggered == first slit, say at 12 o'clock, next at 3 or 4, etc. The following is from the Boat US site:
Multiply the diameter of your shaft by 14 to get the approximate number of inches you need for 4 layers of new packing — usually sufficient.

A common mistake is winding the new packing around the shaft as a continuous piece. Packing installed this way will not seal properly. It must instead be installed as a series of stacked rings. This requires cutting the packing into lengths that just encircle the shaft with ends touching. The easy way to do this is to wrap the packing around the shaft in some accessible location and cut across the overlap with a razor knife.

Curl one of your cut lengths into a ring around the shaft and push it into the stuffing box. Tamp it evenly with a small dowel or a blunt screwdriver to push it all the way to the bottom of the box. Push a second ring into the stuffing box on top of the first one, staggering the joint about 120 degrees. Add a third layer, then a fourth, each time staggering the joint. If you don't seem to have room for the fourth layer, hand tighten the adjusting nut to force the other rings deeper, then remove it again to see if this made room for an additional ring of flax.
When the box is full — but not so full that the adjusting nut doesn't thread on easily — adjust it to drip two or three times per minute, as previously outlined. You will need to check this setting after the first couple of hours of use; some tightening is usually required.

All this done best with boat on the hard