Dripless Shaft Seal

The stuffing box is difficult to reach and inconvenient to repack or retighten. This has lead manufacturers to create a mechanical seal that keeps the water out while allowing the prop shaft to rotate. Many people have installed these, and mostly they love them.

I've got my reservations, as a failure on one of these devices may be sudden and catastropic. I prefer to use a high-tech packing material (along with standard flax) to give me a no-drip stuffing box that fails slowly and gracefully.

I'll leave it to a fan of these mechanical seals to write a description of these units and their advantages. (Please send it to me and I'll add it to the site.) Also see Dripless Shaft Seals Have Advantages by Terry Johnson for a good description of these seals, and some of their advantages and disadvantages.

South: The Endurance Expedition Shackleton's near-fatal journey to the Antarctic has received a lot of press in recent years. This is Shackleton's own account—quiet, understated, and riveting. It also describes the travails of the Aurora expedition, intended to lay the groundwork for Shackleton on the other side of the continent. (Note: commissions earned from this link help defray the costs of this website)

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