Greasing stern gland

[Magic Hen]

Hi

How do people grease their stern glands?
We have an Ovni 385 with Volvo Penta d2-55. Stern Gland supposed to be greased at least once a year, but impossible to get two hands to, so I can squeeze it, or I can get grease near it, but I can't squeeze it and get grease in it!

Please help.

Thanks.

Nick

[Dummy]

Hi Nick and welcome aboard our Ovni forum !

I assume your boat is equipped with the Volvo stern gland which we call in french "presse étoupe joint Volvo hydrolube".

It's actually auto-lubricating with water coming up along the stern tube, so adding grease isn't so critical. You must still be able to squeeze it, with at least one hand, to remove air inside, when your boat has been taken out of the water and back. In this last case it is critical for the life of your stern gland !
To add grease there is a specific plastic tool, looks like an open or cut plastic spoon with 2 half cylinders to fit the shaft. Ask your Volvo dealer, would think the cost should be less than one pound. You deposit grease (special marine grease for the gland) along the shaft before the gland; and then with the tool you move the grease towards the inside of the gland. You should first make sure your shaft is quite clean, otherwise you run the risk of adding impurities, which would be worse, especially when abrasive, than not adding any grease at all !

Fair winds, Kev

PS : ... and a lot of golden eggs with your Magic Hen (it's Easter monday here), nice name for a boat !

[cybelle]

Hi Nick - whilst I bow to Kevin's far superior experience, I've never heard of the spoon-shaped thingy to insert grease with. That'll be because I've never known there was one because I read the manual! Here's what it says on P.54 of the D2-55 Manual (french version that is, presumably scottish version is the same). The text is accompanied by a couple of illustrations showing a hand pushing the nozzle of the little grease tube* into the joint between propshaft and rubber stern gland - yes, same place the drops of water appear when purging). Pretty rudimentary/haphazard, but as Kevin says it doesn't need much grease, and that suffices.

"Joint de l’arbre d’hélice.
Si le bateau est équipé d’un arbre Volvo Penta, le joint de l’arbre doit être purgé et lubrifié immédiatement après le lancement. Purgez la bague en la comprimant, tout en appuyant sur l’arbre jusqu’à l’apparition d’eau. Insérez ensuite environ 1 cm3 de graisse hydrofuge dans le joint.
IMPORTANT ! Le joint doit être remplacé toutes les 500 heures de service ou tous les cinq ans."

(paraphrasing - "Stern Gland. If you've got the Volvo Penta one, you need to bleed it of air and grease it immediately after launching. Squeeze the gland (ie to deform the seal between shaft and gland) until a few drops of water appear. Then insert 1cm3 (yeah right....) of waterproof grease..."

So, all this time I've done just that - shoved the nozzle of the (very small) Volvo-branded tube of grease into the gap and squeezed 'a bit'. My shaft doesn't heat and doesn't leak 10 yrs later.
Note that to cover themselves, Volvo say above you should replace the gland every 500hrs/5yrs (a bit like Alubat covering themselves in their 'Bible' by saying you should take the hull back to bare metal every 10 yrs and repaint....y-e-s...)