Shaft leaking after marina repack?

[tlatoani]

Hi all, I had the marina repack my shaft (that sounds nasty) last month. I've only been out twice since. Last time it was leaking enough that the bilge kicked on every 10 minutes or so. Is it possibly just something loose that I could tighten? It's a 5hr round trip to the shop, so I'd rather avoid it if possible...

thanks

[MartinCaron]

As long as you tight the nut by hand you can't break anything

[lewisb13]

Search "shaft packing"

Go to the first sticky you get to...

[AaronWhitt82]

You will need to adjust it again. When you repack it and use the boat for the first few hours it will "break in" the new packing and start dripping again. You will have to tighten the nut up.
I always end up adjusting mine every few weeks and just tighten the locking nut by hand so I can just adjust it on the water without having to use any wrenches....

[jokid]

I just had to tighten my packing nut last weekend (thanks to Cab and others for their posts). It was leaking a steady stream of water when I went to launch the boat. I am not sure when the packing was last replaced (if at all). That will be an off season project of mine. I guess I will see what happens next year when I do. Hope it all works out for you.

[BensonWdby]

Everyone says to hand tighten - but I have never been able to apply enough pressure by hand to significantly slow a leak when it occurs. Even using both hands (not so easy in the space available)

[phospher]

aaronwhitt82 laid it out perfectly....