Heading down to Panama City Monday to move the boat to Miller Marine for haulout and some bottom work. I’m going to have new shaft seals put on but I want to make sure I get something that is electrically/corrosion compatible with the aluminum hull/shaft tubes. Any suggestions or words of wisdom out there? Been planning on the PSS seals. https://www.shaftseal.com/pss-pro-shaft-seal.html
It is that Carbon ring that bothers me. Ask the factory if bonding from that carbon ring to the hull is possible. I think the old Lasdrop was a synthetic ring. I used them on an old alloy Striker many (many) years ago. https://lasdrop.com/ Lip seals like the PSS type bother me. I know many folk have them. They say they are happy. Many spare seals on the shaft awaiting the previous seals failure. The face seals you can always clean or polish back up when some stuff gets into them. And, what ever you use, make a splash shield over them. One day, they will leak and fling water everywhere. Do you really have a hard issue with old fashion gland packing logs?
Lasdrop is carbon as well. I have one or two threads about challenges I’ve had with Lasdrop. Seems like my current set and cooling line plumbing configuration is working well so far (knock wood) .
Oh sheet, Forgot about your issue. I do wonder, the Lasdrop web page has all this new stuff, Any non carbon stuff? Somebody has to make a face sealing log seal for alloy boats. I wonder what Lasdrop used 30+ years ago. Wish I could find that ole Striker now.
CR, I believe you must be confusing PSS with Tides. In fact, the latter is indeed a lip seal, and allows to keep a spare ready to replace a worn out lip, but the PSS is actually a face seal, and by design it doesn't allow the installation of a spare sealing ring ready to replace the working one.
Am I wrong in recalling that you had corrosion problems? BTW, have you got their so-called gen 2 face seal, or one of the older lip seals? Apologies for asking without bothering to search, it's just easier...
RTrafford - how long have you had those seals on the boat? I know we have similar hulls so I’m inclined to lean with what is working for you.
Yep, I got it bass ackwards. It is the Tides seal I'm not the greatest fan of. But ya know, I'm not a great fan of any of them. I'm still using my 45 year old flax-packed log glands. I am very happy with these.
I be had tides on a boats i ve run as well as on my personal 53 Hatteras. Pretty much trouble free. If they drip a little it s often because of corrosion on the shaft but it can wait till the next haul out. If it s a rough shaft, replacing the seal with the spare usually doesn’t help much.
It isn't just Tides, all lip seals rely on perfect shaft smoothness by design, since the sealing ring is constantly rubbing against the shaft. Which might be ok if the shaft is fine, but the main reason why I'm with CR in not liking lip seals is that they may trigger some shaft wear themselves, by trapping dirt in between the sealing ring and the shaft. Or even just by normal use, in the long run. Face seals can also drip if dirt gets trapped in between the rotating and the fixed part, but the shaft remains always unaffected. And it's relatively easy to clean/flush them - much easier than with lip seals, anyway.
Lip seals require a very good shaft surface to seal. Older shafts often have a bit of wear from the packings over the years. That can make it difficult to situate the seal on a good section of shaft. I put a set of PSS face seals on an aluminum 68' Roamer and the shafts were quite worn from the packing type seals, but we managed to seal the double "O" Ring seal facing collar to the shaft. Whatever you decide, be sure the water injection is in good order and is maintained regularly. Most of the problems and horror stories about "mechanical" seals are because of overheating of the seal carrier bearing, in my opinion.
The Tides have been aboard for perhaps 20+ years?? Mine are the Strong Seals later replaced by the Sure Seal around Y2K.