Stuffing Box

[mjscottinnc]

I have read all the posting about repacking the stuffing box, bought the tool, used 3/16" packing. Besides being a complete pain in the butt, I have one remaining question. I pulled out what looked like 3 rings of 1/4", and it took 5 rings of 3/16" to get the nut to where I'll have some adjustment in the future. Does that sound right? I've packed a lot of boxes, but I always replaced what I found, so this is a little weird.

[Bill1188]

The old ones might have compressed to what appears to be 1/4 inch. What matters is the replacement wa.s the correct size, enough rings we're put in to allow for adjustment, and the ring gaps were staggered to prevent a path for leakage.

[mjscottinnc]

FYI for anyone else with the same question,

for my 323, without a doubt I removed three rings of intact 1/4" and it took 5 rings of 3/16" to refill. I hand tightened the compression nut on new stuffing installation, when the boat was relaunched there was a slow but steady flow of water, I tightened the nut until I got a drop every few seconds. I need it a little tighter, but I had to be on my way taking the boat home so left it as is. The things that was surprising was that with the compression nut tightened I could still easily hand turn the prop shaft with the transmission in neutral.

If you compression nut is as deep as mine (I'm assuming it is original and standard), you might even consider 6 rings