Dripless shaft seals

[DickTuschick]

Hi folks, It's me again with a small but important tecnical update.
Since the PDQ 34 was launched there have been several dripless shaft seals delivered in the boat.
The factory started out with a PSS seal that did not work very well (quite wet) and they quickly changed to a unit made by Tides marine in Fl. There were two different Tides models used, one with a blue flexible rubber tube and then in the later models they switched to an even better unit (for the PDQ 34) that had a red flexible tube.
Recently we have noticed that the red flexible tubes seem to be cracking (possibly from vibration). In one case the tube cracked to the point of leaking and the other where the crack was quite visable but not leaking.
This issue does not seem to be wide spread, but none the less worthy of putting this component on your periodic maintenance check list.
Replacements are not expensive and are redily available from Tides Marine.
Recently James Power reported changing two of these on a boat in the water with only minor water intrusion, so they can be replaced in the water.
I will be talking to the tech folks at Tides to see if I can learn anything more about this issue. I will post anything I learn.

[Bargain Bill]

Long story long - - almost home to Ocean City, Maryland from Punta Gorda, FL and, based on recommendations received, decided to run the yanmar 75's at 90% WOT to get the temps up and the 'carbon' out. Fran noted darker smoke coming from the stbd engine so we idled to take a look. Seems the red-boot seal had allowed water into the bilges and said water got sloshed around because the bilge pump did not trip on 'Auto'. It ran fine during the purchase survey and every other time I turned it on 'manual', but I never tested the 'auto' switch.
Anyhow - - the water seized the turbo and hence the dark exhaust.
My local marina identified the problem as a leaking seal. I asked them to replace both since the other was probably on its way to failing They required me to haul the boat and they replaced the red-boot seals with the blue-boot seals from Tides. The advantage, I was told, is that it had an extra seal that could be 'activated' without the need for a haul-out. So we replaced both red-boots with blue-boots - - bad move.
A brief sea trial showed no leaks so in the Fall, from Annapolis, we headed south. In the meantime I installed a 2nd bilge pump in each engine compartment. I noticed a small amount of water in each engine bilge, but nothing that had me concerned.
Turns out that the seals leaked above a slow cruise, due to a short shaft and the engine torque. This was told to me by the Tidewater engineer who was involved in the sea trial of these blue-boot seals at the PDQ factory. The end result of the trials was "the red-booted seals performed far better." The blue-boots were not recommended for use in the PDQ 34.
The people at Tides were GREAT. Very knowledgeable about the PDQ and their seals. Since I did not order the seals, and they were installed by a professional shop, they sent me a new set under warranty, without charge.
Of course I still had to have the boat hauled and pay for the labor, but that's a discussion I'm having with the installer.

Bill & Fran Carlson
Easy Riders MV34/029

[Ross Bowling]

After replacing MANY of the RED seals, James & jackie Powers did the first one in the water a week after leaving the Factory, I have gone to PSS seals. I have not had a problem since. I am going to find some wood, to knock on, now.

ps: The PSS's were installed while the boat was in the water, by San Francisco Boat Works. I know that the other 34 on SF Bay also had the seals changed to PSS's in the water at SF Boat Works.

Cheers,

[DickTuschick]

Good luck Russ,
The PSS seals were a disaster when PDQ tried to use them. PSS could never solve the problem so they tried the Tide seals and eventually wound up with the "red" which with some obvious exceptions have been outstanding. I hope you fair better!!

[Ross Bowling]

The PSS seals seem to have fixed the problem that Tides Marine could not. So far so good!

[Mishigas]

OK, so my 2005 MV-34 has the "Blue Tides" dripless. No problems to date and I check it often. Is this something that I should be looking to replace in the near future. Anyone know what the expected life of these units is? I had James aboard this spring and no mention of any issues with this seal. Comments?
Thanks, Sandy Kramer MV MISHIGAS

[duetto]

hi sandy,

duetto came with the blue seals. they failed on our first trip north. we replaced with the red ones which failed exactly one year later on trip north. at that point we found the problem to be a bent prop shaft. new set of red ones have been in 4 years or approx 20,000 miles.

i asked tides how long they should last and they said they really can't give a life expectancy because of variables like sand getting past cutlass bearing, marine growth on shaft, etc. i periodically clean the shaft where the seal rides and also move the boot back and forth to move the point of wear.

if you've had the blues in and not leaking just keep an on them. i'm changing mine in fall while boat is out of water. i figure 20,000 miles, they have had a good life and i'd rather swap at my leisure rather than in the bahamas.