09-Mar-05
PSS After One Seasons Use
After an entire season all I have to show for this installation is a tiny carbon/graphite line, which is barely visible. This is line is left over from the break in process of the face and carbon rotor facing (smoothing) each other. The bilge is now bone dry & keeping the boat as mold free as possible is a good thing. Notice that everything below the water line is double clamped!
09-Mar-05
Vent Hose Routing
To get the vent hose above the waterline and into the engine compartment put a smooth bend with enough slack for flex and then route the hose into the engine compartment. Make sure it does not chafe on anything along the way.
09-Mar-05
Vent Hose Water Collection Bottle
I had the PSS up and running for a while before I noticed a minor problem. It seems that every time I put the boat in reverse I had a tiny bit of salt water on the floor around my engine compartment. The reverse thrust of the prop is in a direct line of sight with the shaft seal and can force an initial burp of water up the hose. The water does not continuously squirt out, and it equalizes quickly, but the initial thrust, of reverse, would push about an 1 oz of water up the tube and into the boat.
To solve this problem I added, to the existing vent hose, a couple of brass elbows and a bicycle water bottle and bottle holding bracket to catch this "reverse thrust" water. To make sure the system was still able to vent air I made a hole in the top of the bottle to facilitate venting and routed the vent hose into the bottle below this hole. After about a month of sailing the bottle would be half full and I would empty it when I checked the oil. IF you are venting a PSS internally be aware that running the engine in reverse can and will push water back into the boat..
09-Mar-05
Water Collection bottle Vent Hose Fitting
The new style of the PSS Shaft Seals are all vented so no air can become trapped in the stuffing box. An air-bound stuffing box can become very hot as the rotor faces are water lubricated. Even with slow turning shafts this can become an issue without proper venting. The vent hose keeps the seal lubricated by venting or displacing the air and allowing water to take its place. The problem is this hose needs to be routed above the waterline with NO low spots! Low spots trap water thus preventing venting! In the Catalina 310 it was vary hard to find a route that would not have a low spot, where water could become trapped, preventing the vent hose from venting the shaft seal. Essentially a low spot in the vent hose becomes a p-trap! The engine compartment route was the only way I found that did not hold water or impeded the flexibility of the vent hose on the shaft seal. Routing into the engine compartment, on the 310, solved this problem. The hose barb pictured just pressure fits nicely and is easily removed to empty the bottle from "reverse thrust" spillage.
09-Mar-05
Close Up Of Water Collection Bottle
This picture gives you a better idea of what the completed set up looks like. At first I was concerned about heat from the exhaust riser but an infrared thermometer confimed that the bottle stays plenty cool and besides it fits well.
The blue tape on the back wall is reminding me of the engine hours when I last changed the oil. It's a crude system but it keeps me on a 30 hour engine oil change routine.
