[Public-List] Stuffing box in earlier Albergs

[Glenn]

Michael,

My boat had the same set up you describe.  I found the deck plate was useless so put in a hatch (22"x20") to service all the stuff in the rear of the engine - exhaust,,riser, shift cable, xmission etc (and also remount my batteries under the cockpit out of the bilge).  There is a huge amount of space  going to waste under the cockpit!

originally, stuffing box wrenches were actually made with flat bar material, maybe 1/4" thick, with looong   Flat handles - up to 36" with some older wrenches.  So, if you can find two of these you could,  theoretically, put them both through the inspection plate to loosen or tighten the packing nut. Still doesnt solve how to change out the packing material... Plus its hard to impossible to find actual packing nut wrenches anymore. Nobody stocks them, or even makes them in the size I needed for Dolce.   so I made mine out of a piece of 1/4" x 4" mild steel flat bar I had lying around.  They work great, whereas I couldnt get a monkey wrench to even fit in the space around my rudder packing nut.  

Glenn
Dolce #318

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 17, 2013, at 4:37 PM, Michael Connolly <crufone at comcast.net> wrote:

> Arthur, 
> My boat #133 has a bronze deck plate mounted in the cockpit sole just aft of the bridge deck. I understood that was for access to adjust the shaft stuffing box.  Big problem I see is that there is only room enough to use a single wrench thru the deck plate.  So how does one use this access to adjust the stuffing box employing two wrenches? It seems to me that the original thought of using this deck plate for access is impractical. What have others discovered? 
> Michael 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> 
> From: "Arthur Chotin" <art at legalprinters.com> 
> To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org 
> Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 11:51:39 AM 
> Subject: [Public-List] Stuffing box in earlier Albergs 
> 
> Having a problem with a stuffing box that is dripping way too 
> much...enough to create bilge issues. Is there any way to get to it 
> other than taking the steps out and hanging over the engine (Universal 
> Diesel)? My boat is Hull No. 167 so probably no additional stuffing box 
> on the rudder shaft. 
> 
> All advice is welcome! 
> 
> Arthur 
> -- 
> Arthur Chotin 
> Principal 
> Legal Printers, LLC 
> 5614 Connecticut Avenue, NW #307 
> Washington, DC 20015 
> 202.747.2400 
> 202.449.9565 Fax 
> www.legalprinters.com 
> 
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