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boat hull keeps taking on water


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So I have this issue with my 21 VLX. As long as I have had it, it has always seemed to somehow fill with water in the hull beneath the engine and vdrive. It used to not be a lot but there would always be enough water that every time I got it back on the lift at the end of the day, I would remove the drain plug(beneath the vdrive) and let all the water out. Recently though, the boat seems to have a LOT of water in it just while we are out on the river, its enough that I need to drain it out(using my ballast bag pump) a few times throughout the day if we are out for many hours. My bilge pump is not working, not sure why, but even if it was working I don't think that a boat should be magically filling with water inside it(especially not this much). Could it be that the water is coming from the side port where the bilge is supposed to pump it out(typically that port is underwater when we have a lot of weight in the boat). Or could it possibly be that water is leaking from the engine coolant system somewhere like the water impeller? 

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5 minutes ago, Skymedic said:

Check your packing gland. Or drip less packing, which ever one you may have. 

i have a backing gland. I have not actually checked it myself and have never worked on one before but I do understand what they do and how they work...that really could be it. thanks

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On 6/15/2019 at 11:27 PM, Skymedic said:

Check your packing gland. Or drip less packing, which ever one you may have. 

took the packing gland out today and WOW the packing was almost all useless at this point, it was so worn.  When it was in the water the shaft was constantly draining water through it so that explains why my boat is always sinking.

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Hey guys so I installed the new packing(as well as a new bilge pump, old one turned out to be shotty). Here's the thing, I know that the packing is supposed to be crammed in there tight and then the gland needs to be screwed snug against the locking bolt, but how tight does it need to be cranked down? People say that when the driveshaft is not rotating, no water should be dripping and when it is rotating then you should have a drop or 2 every 30 seconds. I have mine in pretty tight using a malibu wrench that came with the boat designed for this job. I wrenched it down tight but did not use a breaker bar to tighten it like i had to do to break it loose. It's not dripping any water at all but it does seem to be lubricating the shaft when it spins. The shaft seems moist enough but I did notice that the drive shaft is really warm/hot. Should the shaft be hot? Do i need to loosen the packing gland a little to allow some water to leak through and keep the shaft cool?

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On 6/22/2019 at 1:31 AM, formulaben said:

It shouldn't be tight, and after initial install you need to let it swell for a while (a couple days on the lake) before you make your initial adjustment.

https://marinehowto.com/re-packing-a-traditional-stuffing-box/

This article was incredibly helpful, thank you so much!

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