In my quest for a dry bilge, I came to the stuffing box and found it to be most of, if not all of, the problem. I was getting one drop of water every 6 seconds without the engine on. This small amount seems to be enough to fill the little bilge area and start the auto bilge pump going in less than 24 hours. Also, you can see there is corrosion in the area around the shaft from increased salt water intrusion while under way. So, I went about trying to tighten the packing nut (keep in mind I am a complete novice and may not be doing anything right here). Tried to hold the packing nut still while trying to turn the lock nut clockwise. After a couple of hours, I had managed to increase the drip rate to about once every 3 seconds while seemingly not getting either of the nuts to budge. Wonderful!
Anyways during hour number 3, I think (but I'm not positive) that on two separate occasions both the locking nut and the packing nut moved in unison clockwise. Certainly less than a quarter of a turn total. Also, the dripping stopped. I tested with the engine in gear at 1200 RPMs and wasn't seeing the 2-3 drips per minute that I thought I was supposed to be seeing. I let the engine run for 10 minutes, stopped everything, and felt zero heating of either the shaft or the stuffing box. So, that seemed better than things heating up due to too much friction in there. I plan to test for drips when I'm back at the boat next weekend. I also sprayed everything down with T9 Boeshield and scrubbed at it with a brush to help with the corrosion (should have taken an after picture. was a little better). Any thoughts on the above info. I wouldn't be surprised if it starts to drip a little again. Especially while under way, and I plan to continue to monitor this going forward and check for any excess heat. What about the condition of everything from the pictures (hose, stuffing box, shaft, rusted thingy shaft goes into, etc)? I certainly would be happier if it looked more like the "good" picture than the "bad" picture in Nigel Calder's book. Do other's look about like this on a 1980 boat. Should I get in there and really try to clean the corrosion off? I wasn't planning to haul out this year. Was thinking about having all of this looked at and the stuffing box repacked next Winter (end of 2015/beginning of 2016). I REALLY want to learn to do all of this stuff myself, but every time I start a project, I end up getting stumped and confidence is rarely going up. A little over dramatic there.
But wish I could become experienced without having to gain experience and worry that I may sink the boat/ destroy expensive parts of the boat