CAL 31 Stuffing Box - any ideas?

[matteisenberg]

Dear CAL Sailors,

Please note: Not your typical stuffing box question!

I was finally able - with a little help from my friends - to get the lock nut and packing nut unstuck on the stuffing box. However, I'm unable to unscrew the packing nut far enough along the shaft to get the old flax out. There's a shaft key coming from the transmission coupler that's in the way. Pictures attached, shaft key circled in red.

Any ideas? We tried loosening the coupler and removing the set screw to see if we could slide the shaft out some - the idea being that then we could remove the shaft key. The shaft didn't budge.

Any ideas or suggestions welcome. Thanks!

Matt.

[rcvesselstyn]

Hi Matt. Are you still in the water or on the hard?. If you're hauled out then you need to loosen the hose clamps holding the rubber hose that connects to the stuffing box and slide it further down so that you have enough room to take off the nut. If you're still in the water this is still the right approach it just requires more finesse. Good luck!

[Jedsail]

You can drill out that section of the key, the nut will then be able to slide towards the engine. Joe