Changed Shaft Seals, AGAIN

[Ross Bowling]

I just had the boat in the Yard to get rid of the Tide Marine shaft seals. I have replaced the Port seal twice and the starboard seal started leaking last week. I have moved to PSS seals. I am hopeful that this change will be the end of the leaks. I will keep the Forum posted as to the change. I know that the other PDQ 34 on San Francisco Bay is suffering from a Port seal leak. I think that Sea Son's will be headed to the yard soon for a change to PSS as well.

Good Cruising

Ross

[jbrad]

Hi Ross,

Jimmy Bradley here in Pensacola, Florida. I also had problems with both seals on "Mr Busy" in MV 059 in November 04 when we brought her back from the factory. I contacted PDQ and they in turn contacted Tides. Tides flew parts up for us to try and then flew someone up to look athe the problem. They then asked if they could installed redesigned seals. I gave them the go ahead and the redesigned seals worked perfectly. I was wondering if I would have trouble getting reimbursed for the cost of Saunders yard in Orange Beach, Al. where the work took place. Tides sent a check completely covering all the charges involved with their seals failing. I could not have been more pleased with anyone else's product or service. If you have not contacted the facory for the redesigned seals, I suggest you do. We have had no problems since the change out in December 04. If you need the contact info drop me a note, I will be glad to forward. Good Luck,

Jimmy Bradley
MV 059
Mr Busy

[duetto]

hi ross,

we had our port tides seal changed twice. the second was 2 years ago. at that point i had them check for an underlying root cause. turned out to be a bent propshaft. after our first failure tides switched us from the original blue rubber boots to the red ones.

this summer the starboard one started to drip slightly. i had been thinking of moving to pss before this. i talked to our local yard manager about the cost of hauling and splitting the coupling. he told me he was not a fan of pss and preferred tides. he told me to move the boot to another spot on the shaft and to polish the shaft with scotch brite pad. i did that in september and have since put 800 miles on the boat without leaking a drop. the one thing i don't like about tides is that a failure can be catastrophic. there is no warning and no adjustment.

we'll continue with the tides seals. next time one goes i'll have a hard decision to make.

[Ross Bowling]

Thanks for the info. My decision to move to PSS was based on 3 failures in one year. Mine is the last 34 out of the Whitby Factory, and we were using the red seals. While TM supplied the first seal, I had to pay for #2 and the Yard Bill. When the starboard shaft began leaking, not dripping but a major leak, that was the push I needed to investigate my options.

I am told that the PSS is much more user friendly when it comes to vibrations (which I have none of) and to alinement issues, which I am told is an issue with the PDQ''s. It seems that both my Port and Starboard engines were a bit our of alinement.

After James Power changed the first seal in catskill,NY in the water, I knew that it could be done without incident. San Francisco Boat Works did a great job, replacing both seals and servicing the engine for 1/2 of what I paid for a engine service alone in Annapolis.

As promised, I will keep the Forum informed of the situation.

Ross

[duetto]

ross,

i'll be very interested to hear about how the pss seals work.

[MOC]

I just had my seals replaced last week, they were 5 yrs old and PSS seals. They never sealed correctly from the factory and the stainless steel nut was scared on it's face, both sides. Constant problem over the years. I have heard many mechanics swear by the PSS seals so I gave them another chance. I also had both cutlass bearings replaced. Both props balanced. So far they appear solid and non leaking. What a pain when they leak, makes you wish for a couple of outboards. Mike

[MV Dana Louise]

I just went to red tideseal after leaking
blues and then a stbd side perforation requiring
a lot of tape around the blue tube - real fast.
Fortunately we were close to our destination
got hauled next morning.