Sternglands

Hi Everyone,
Has been a while since I have been on here.
Have a situation where I need to replace a volvo type sterngland that was only installed less than 2 years ago but apparently may have not been installed correctly and probably no recourse as marina where it was done has changed hands. The most annoying part is that due to other issues its probably only been used for about 40hrs.
Just wondering whether anyone has installed the PPS type in their boat over the last few years and what sort of result have had with them.

Thanks in adviance for your comments.

Cheers
MrMac

I have had no issues with my PSS gland. If installed correctly they are basically maintenance free. My gland is 6 years old with 1000 hours on it. There is no dripping so the boat is 100% dry. Is the existing gland a PSS or are you looking to replace the existing gland with a PSS?

+1 for Volvo dripless.
Had it installed in June and more than happy with it.

Volvo dripless installed in 2012. Didn't leak a drop up till I sold the boat this year. I believe it is still dry.

Just replaced a 10yo Volvo dripless with the same. Easy to do, took about 40mins. Dry as a bone and simple to service.

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tarquin1 said..
Depends on the set up. On a wooden boat that had quite a bit of movement over time we tried both Volvo and PSS and didn't get more than 2 years out of either. Loads of problems. The good old bronze stuffing box did the job. Its a wooden boat so there was always some water in the bilge anyhow.

Hi tarquin,
Thanks for your response. I actually have a refurbish bronze one that I purchased to originally to replace the faulty one 2 years ago but was told by the Marina mechanic at the time that I was better off installing the Volvo dripless seal. As mentioned in my original post appears it possibly wasn't installed correctly and even having only done about 40hrs apparently its split. Your advice given my boat is essentially wooden has been taken on board.

Cheers

MrMac

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MrMac said..

Azure305 said..
Just replaced a 10yo Volvo dripless with the same. Easy to do, took about 40mins. Dry as a bone and simple to service.

Hi Azure,

Did you have to slip your boat to do the change over?

Cheers

MrMac

Sorry to jump in but, yes, the boat definitely needs to be out of the water.

Assuming not a manufacturing fault, the only reason I can think of that a Volvo gland would split, is if it had a high torque load. Possibly lots of friction from lack of water. Standard procedure after slipping is to burp the seal to get rid of the air. Maybe that was not done?
Silly question, but is the seal above the water line?

We had a problem with the Volvo seal. We think the stern tube is a bit too small and there wasn't enough water getting through. It would get warm when motoring and we had to keep burping it too cool it down. We kept greasing it as well. Eventually it got damaged and leaked a lot. Scarry moment.

Given that the Volvo dripless sterngland doesn't have one this is probably what happened. How do you burp a sterngland that doesnt have the tube?

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tarquin1 said..
Its a wooden boat so there was always some water in the bilge anyhow.

What you mean to say is this... "It's a boat that hasn't been built or maintained properly so there was always some water in the bilge anyhow". Wood, fibreglass, steel, carbon fibre, etc is of no relevance.
My timber yacht is dry. I also installed a Volvo Penta "rubber stuffing box" and not yet had a problem.

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Lazzz said..

MrMac said..
Given that the Volvo dripless sterngland doesn't have one this is probably what happened. How do you burp a sterngland that doesnt have the tube?

To burp it you have to compress the tube / push aft away from the mating faces to let water in & air out.
It's not hard but remembering to do it sometimes is!!

Thanks for the heads up Lazzz