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Leaking Dripless Help

928 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  CaptainForce 
#1 ·
I have a 1984 Newport 33 and while getting everything ready this spring, I noticed that I have a slow leak at my dripless shaft seal. It is a pretty slow leak and it appears that it is leaking at the forward portion of the seal where there are 2 hose clamps just aft of the donut on the shaft. If I move the bellows it increases the ingress of water quite a bit.

Would you recommend pulling the boat to work on this or do you think it is just a matter of pushing the donut back or adjusting the hose clamps?

I have included a couple of pictures to try and show what I am looking at.

Thanks for any assistance.
 

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#2 · (Edited)
The face of the 'doughnut' against the face of the section that's clamped into the bellows IS the seal.. if it's leaking there the clamps won't be an issue. If it's leaking between the bellows hose and the piece clamped into it that's another thing, but from the pics it appears your seal is not doing the job.

You might try giving the bellows a pull away from the doughnut and give the seal face a real good flush, could be something is stuck on one of the surfaces causing the seal to weep. (a fair amount of water will come in so be prepared for that) Looks some amount of dried salt all over the doughnut.. these surfaces need to be very clean and smooth and mate cleanly. it's also possible the pressure from the bellows is not sufficient (ie it's not compressed enough), in which case the doughnut/collar needs to be moved back on the shaft a bit.

If you really have to replace any parts of the seal that will be an out-of-the-water job and requires at least removing the shaft from the coupling.
 
#3 ·
I noticed what looks like some crusty saline deposition on the stainless ring forward of the bellows. Could a swift cleaning with the bellows pulled back solve the problem? My Dripless seal has a nipple to bleed air that consists of a hose that leads high and center in my engine room well above the water line.
 
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