Isn't 142.00 to repack the prop shaft bearing a little steep? (Stuffing Box)

[foobie]

 

[added Stuffing Box to title - Stu]

[Steve Sayian]

Who's doing it, Bernie Madoff???

[Ken Juul]

If you went with the Gore Dripless, that's about $20, regular flax about half that.  That leaves either 120 or 130 dollars for labor.  Not counting set up and clean up, it took me about an hour the last time I did it.  At $90/hour that leaves about a half hour for set/clean up.  Unless your yard has real low labor rates it sounds about right.

[Ron Hill]

Unlike Ken, I think that's a bit steep.

However, now that it's done - do you really know what was done?? 

If you'd attend a Fleet 12 raft up, I'd have done it (in the water) for free -- in less than 30 minutes!!  A thought

[Indian Falls]

I did mine for the first time, in the water, in 10 minutes.  In that ten minutes water rushed out of the shaft log for only 10 seconds.  I used old school flax with wax in it.  I picked out the old stuffing with a paper clip that I'd bent a little sharp hook on.  So... yes paying for this service at all, is steep in my opinion.  I bolstered my confidence with info from this forum and the instructions/diagram in the manual.   Wax on ... Wax ... off!

[DarthOccam]

I also did mine for the first time, in the water, just a few weeks ago.  It took about 45 minutes, but much of that was spent double-checking and cleaning everything up.  Between posts on this site and Mainesail's web site, it was pretty easy.  I used rigging tape to seal the shaft while I worked and ended up with less than a liter of water in the bilge.  The Duramx Ultra-X, with shipping, was under $20 for enough packing for at least 4 replacements.  

I don't know that $142 was an unfair price for the work, but I wouldn't want to pay it for such a straight-forward job.  And as others have pointed out, any C34 owner should know how to to adjust the packing gland.

Interestingly, when I started to pull out the old packing, I found five rings of very narrow packing.  When the PO had it done last, they must have installed whatever they had handy.  I installed two rings of 1/4" per the spec and it came to within 4-5 threads from the end of the packing nut.   Another reason to do it yourself--otherwise you have no idea of what was done.  Or at least watch the work in progress and bond with your new best friend.

[efhughes3]

I don't think that is unreasonable. A yard has to allow for whatever they may find. For instance, with the way my wife has the aft berth decked out, they'd have 10 minutes removing bedding. All boats have varying access to the packing-I'm sure they run an average time and at something north of $80/hour, an hour and a half of total time ain't a bad guesstimate. Is your boat at the yard now in a slip, or out of the water having other work done? If so, then maybe it is steep. Not as a stand alone job for profit.

[Kevin Henderson]

Thats about what I paid to have my shaft repacked with the Gore Packing Material.  It was also done while Pau Hana was out of the water during the bottom job.  For a newbie like me, it was worth it.  And, the added benefit of the the folks from Pacific Yacht Outfitters taking the time to show me how to do it myself went a long way in taking the fear out of doing it myself while in the water.
However.... Unless absolutely necessary, I'm afraid that an in water change of packing material is way beyond the level of my comfort zone...  not that I couldn't do it... but I don't think I'll put the Admiral through the nervousness of watching water pour into the boat. 

Kinda like making sausage... It sure tastes good but she really doesn't need to see it being made.

[Hawk]

It's one of those jobs that might take some reading and deep breathing exercises to start it for the first time but then once done you wonder why you waited so long... Seeing as I do haul my boat to bottom coat and change zincs I don't see much point in doing it the water as its only every 5 or more years......unless your packing gland looks like an open faucet.

Hawk

[Jim Hardesty]

I think that every sailor should know know how to adjust the packing nut.  Thats the skilled part.  So why not change out the packing.  You could ruin a couple of packs of packing learning and still be money ahead. 
Jim

[Ralph Masters]

Kevin,
I'm with you on the admiral not needing to be there to see that.  I'm planning to change out the speed sensor forward and am trying to pick a day when the admiral has other plans so I can get int there and pull the old one out and shove the new one in.  I know it'll be about 2 - 3 pints of water but the admiral would be all up in arms about it.

Ralph

[Ron Hill]

Guys : It's imperative that any C34 owner know how to change out the packing!!   At least watch what is done!!

One of the tricks that I've seen mechanics pull is : back off the lock nut, back out the packing nut, cut a single ring of packing, insert the single ring in to the gland nut with the old packing, tighten it down with the lock nut  -- and collect their $$$. 

The other trick is to spiral the packing.     Both are done so they can finish the job faster. 

A few thoughts

[Stu Jackson]

Another gem from Maine Sail, also linked from my stuffing box article in the Tech wiki (http://c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Stuffing_box_packing)

http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=125430

[Clay Greene]

Maine Sail's article is great.  I did it myself over the winter and it was really simple.  The hardest part was getting the old packing out but I don't think it took more than 15 minutes total.  The old packing material was spiral wrapped, no doubt by yard staff, so my suggestion is to do it yourself so you know it is being done the right way.  We put in the Gore packing so I am looking forward to seeing how it performs. 

[Ron Hill]

Clay : What MainSail forgot to mention was that my "special tool" was made from a coat hanger with the 1/4" end bent at 90 degrees!! 

The old packing comes out in a second!!    A thought