Shoestring, a 1976 365 sloop-turned-ketch, has a PSS shaft seal. There is one drop about every two to three seconds. Is this the correct rate? If not, what can be done?
Does anybody have experience in replacing it with a non-drip? How much is the expense? Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Thomas - SF Bay
The PSS is a dripless system. Are you sure it is a PSS?
It shouldn't leak.
If it is leaking, you need to loosen the set screws in the rotor and slide the rotor forward or aft a fraction of an inch. The bellows should not be too compressed. Just enough to keep the seal on the rotor.
If that doesn't fix it, perhaps you have worn through too much of the carbon ring that presses up against the rotor, but that is unlikely.
The PSS should only allow water into the boat when you manually compress the bellows. The water pressure keeps the bellows firmly against the rotor.
(//http://www.shaftseal.com/pictures/pssshaftseal/stdshaftsealdiagram.gif)
Here are the installation instructions...
//http://www.shaftseal.com/pss-shaft-seal-installation-instruction.html