Stuffing Box Packing life

[REDFIVE48]

So my stuffing box was leaking like crazy last year so I had the marina replace the packing. Unfortunately it is and has been leaking like crazy all this year also and right now it's only been 60 hours since the marina repacked it, now I'm going to do it myself thanks to the threads I read on this forum.

My question - how long is this stuff supposed to last before you have to repack it or even adjust it again? What about if you use the Goretex stuff does it last longer? anyone with real life time periods to share?

How often do you find yourself adjusting the stuffing box during the normal lifecycle? Every 20 hours, 50, 100?

Thanks

[86century]

The good stuff from discount inboard marine on our old dd it lasted around 70hours before I had to touch it.

[jmb]

If the marina did it and.never put.the boat in the water then it is uncertain for them to determine how much to tighten it. I had to put mine in the water and tighten a little after they replaced it. You might try adjusting in the water. Not hard to do. There are threads on here to tell you how to do it. Fwiw.

[rsinger]

I need to do mine too, but don't want to touch anything until the seasons almost over.

[maxpower220]

If the install was done correctly, it should last for a long time. It is not unusual to have to tighten the nut again after a little operation of the boat. After that, it should last for at least a few hundred hours and/or several years.

If you are still having issues after the adjustment, you should look at shaft alignment, if the shaft is straight, or if the cutlass bearings are worn out. A little wiggle in the shaft will cause seals to leak, this can lead to a rear transmission seal leak if gone unchecked.

[zabooda]

The stuffing box needs to be tightened periodically so you may want to tighten it down some. That should reduce the flow. Replacement is needed when the stuffing box is tightened all the way and it still leaks excessively. I used graphite impregnated cord about 9 years ago and tightened the box once and that was last fall. That was before the other cords were available. The wax in the cords are susceptible to melting so if the cord was installed and tightened too much (no drip) then it can be ruined from the beginning. The nice thing about these other types of cords is they are not prone to melting so no drip no problem.