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Old 12-05-2018, 09:55 PM
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ndutton ndutton is offline
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My preference is contrary to all the experts who say the shaft has to fit so tight in the coupler that it has to be beat into place by the likes of John Henry. When I did them I would dress the inboard end of the shaft until the coupler could be slid on by hand. What held it in place were two hardened set screws driven into generous dimples drilled into the shaft and safety wired after they were tightened. I never lost a shaft in reverse.

As for PSS seal or conventional stuffing box, opinions vary and they're worth what you pay for them ($0.00). I'll suggest the major factor in the decision making process is access to the stuffing box. If access is difficult, a PSS may be the best money you ever spent. With good access, either will work and as you've seen, repacking a stuffing box is pretty easy even in the water.

Not that it matters to anyone other than me but there will never be a PSS on a boat of mine. In the 1980's I was considering one for a boat I was building. I ran up against the normal chatter, ask 3 sailors and get 4 opinions. I gave the production manager at Islander Yachts a call, an old friend whose opinion I respected. I knew they were using a PSS type seal on their new Islander 34 because of access problems under a V drive engine so here was a guy with first hand experience with several installations. He said he wouldn't install one of those $%#@& things unless a gun was held to his head. The problems they experienced weren't longevity based (new boats of course) but rather sealing face issues. When they're polished like new they work fine but once scratched they turn into a pump slinging water all over the place. It's entirely possible, maybe even probable, his employees weren't taking the care they should have during installation but his opinion was good enough for me.
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Neil
1977 Catalina 30
San Pedro, California
prior boats 1987 Westsail 32, 1970 Catalina 22
Had my hands in a few others
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