Another Wartsila Shaft Seal Adjustment Tool for ManeBar Seals

2011 February 6
by Chris Brown
Wartsila EL Shaft Seal with Compression Tool

Wartsila EL Shaft Seal with Compression Tool

Wartsila Shaft Seals are often found on larger Class Yachts.  The principal of the system is based on a face seal created by a phenolic ring riding on a graphite base.  The phenolic ring does wear with time and use similar to a brake pad.

This seal is out of a 121′ Heesen that is going through a normal 5 year ABS inspection.  The running gear is completely removed, cutlass bearings replaced, engine and strut alignment checked, shafts, props and couplers are checked in the machine shop.  Finally, the shaft seal system is removed for inspection.  This particular seal is the EL ManeBar model.  All the components were checked against the manufacturer’s specifications and found to still be acceptable to reinstall in the vessel.Once the shafts are installed the system must be adjusted or compressed to tolerance in order to create a dry shaft seal system.   I wrote about a tool for a different Wartsila Seal model a few months ago.  Wartsila has designed their seals with a special installation tool in order to get an even and controlled compression.  For the EL Shaft Seal the tool is comprised of threaded rod, a “hook block”, nuts and washers.  Each vessel with Wartsila Shaft Seals should have the tool on board.  Unfortunately, since the tool is only used once every few (or five) years it is often hard to find.  In this case, our machine shop fabricate this tool with Wartsila’s support and permission.  A special thanks to Steve and Brian at Wartsila for their excellent customer support.

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