A part of my spring time ritual is to loosen the nut on the packing box and check that all is behaving properly. Well this time after adjusting the packing I found a steady stream of water coming from behind the packing box in the area of the stern tube. Needless to say this quickly became a cause for concern. Zip ties, rags and the flow is now a drip.
Next morning we are getting hauled out! The cause of the leak was that the shaft has been running in the bottom of the stern tube and has worn a hole. The shaft is supposed to be centered in the tube and the engine then aligned to the shaft.
The fix that we settled on was to remove the shaft far enough back to cut the stern tube and then epoxy a new one in its place. Then reassemble and go back to sailing. Needless to say the job finished up being more involved. Once the shaft is free of the engine coupling it becomes clear that it would be wise to replace the cutlas bearing while we are doing this. And it is just as easy to buy a whole new stuffing box as it is to rehab the old one. Thank you to all the info in the wiki on cutlas bearing replacement, the only addition I have is to say that the three jaw puller from Advance Auto (free loaner) was invaluable. And why does Catalina choose to use a strut that can't be disassembled from the boat and taken to the press to change the cutlas bearing.
I'm happy to say we are back in the water and the boat motors beautifully.
Mark Tamblyn