Think water is coming in where the drive shaft is.

Has anyone had any problems with water coming in where the drive shaft comes through the bottom of the boat? Some one told me there is like a black rubber seal around the drive shaft rod that gets loose sometimes.

There's supposed to be a few drips.

Do a search on drive shaft packing and you'll get plenty of info.

Don't really know if you have a packing gland or old fashioned packing, but it's easily corrected.

how is it corrected?
There are more than a few drips though. My ballast is kicking on every 10-15 mins. Do I need to take it to a dealer?
Oh and its a 99 Moomba Mobius

The packing nut probably needs to be tightened. I think it shows how to do this in the owner's manual. When tightened properly, it will drip so many drops per minute when running, and won't drip at all when stopped. It gives the proper drip rate in the manual. Don't overtighten, or you can burn it up.

Only takes a few minutes to fix.

Ok...I can't find the owner's manual's at moomba.com, but you can go to http://www.supraboats.com/owners_manual.html and find the manuals for the Supra line at Skier's Choice. (they also manufacture Moomba's)

Download the section 9 manual for Service and Maintenance, and check out page "55" (page 5 of this section.) It shows how to adjust the packing nut.

ok cool. it leaks alot when the boat is sitting still and not running. i lifted the motor box to look and i could see water at a right rate of speed around the brass shaft. so you think that is my problem?

how tight do you tighten the packing nut? just hand tight or what?

loosen the lock nut, then tighten the packing nut (the big one) in 1/8 turn!!! increments until the drip is down to about 1 drop every 8 or 10 seconds while sitting. If you overtighten this you will fry the packing inside the nut and potentially score your shaft, requiring a new shaft. Run the boat for a while, idling at first(in gear) but stopping every few minutes to feel the packing nut to make sure it is cool to the touch. Then start going faster, doing the same thing.

The packing material (in the nut) is lubricated by water from outside the hull to keep cool, which is why (without a dripless shaft seal or GFO packing) you will always have to have a slow drip of water entering the boat.

so you tighten the packing nut down towards the locking nut just a little even if its not even relatively hand tight?

yep, you should not require a tool to tighten the packing nut down (normally), all it is doing is compressing 4 pieces of rope inside the nut. You should only need to use a tool to tighten the locking nut up.

edit. if you want, do it in the water, loosen it a little, then tighten it (by hand) until there is only 1 drip every 8-10 seconds. That is the best way to make sure you don't overtighten it it if it is very loose.

(Message edited by tommyadrian5 on June 29, 2004)

On this subject, I've always considered water in the bilge just part of boating. I never freaking adjusted the packing on my '92 MC. It probably leaked a gallon a minute when running (exaggeration), but who cares. Washed out the bilge, and that's what pumps are for!

Hell, my dog can jump in the boat just one time from the platform, and get more water in the boat than a properly adjusted packing nut does all day long, heh.

That's why I've always wondered "why?" when I see the posts for dripless seals.

(Message edited by ZBoomer on June 29, 2004)

Because water in your hull surrounds nuts, bolts, and something else, called your engine. When it splashes around it gets into things such as your alternator, distributor (if ya got one), and by splashing around and becoming mist, into your air intake, which is very bad, and causes premature corrosion on these parts. As well as seeping into any imperfections in your hull, and eventually causing water intrusion damage to any fiberglass.

if you have a center/ski locker ballast bag check it for leaks. also check the pp paddle wheel if you have pp to make shure it has a good seal

Seriously man, if you're trying to keep your bilge dry, you need to look for other hobbies. Keeping it from getting 6-inches deep is a great idea, but some water is NORMAL.

Oh, there's an ENGINE in a boat? Damn, thanks for that info!

Boats are designed for a certain amount of water in there, and if the boat falls apart from said water like Tom says it will, it's a POS in my opinion.

well i do nothing, and my bilge is dry, I think if you can't keep a bilge dry, you need to find another hobby, maybe you should try sailing

Yeah, from now on when somebody gets out of the water, I'll have them dry off on the platform. I'll also re-rig the built-in cooler so it doesn't DRAIN INTO THE BILGE. The horror!

well i don't have a built in cooler, and the carpet soaks up most of the water from people getting in and out. IMO a cooler that drains into the bilge is a POS design.

Hey Sid, When you tighten the stuffing box make sure you turn the engine off!