Pitufa’s previous owner was German, so she came with many gadgets ‘made in Germany’. One of those is our shaft seal: a ProfiSeal (www.profiseal.com), based on the design of drip-less face seals. Instead of a flimsy rubber harmonica (like on the PSS), it features a solid metal housing that is flange-mounted to the stern tube. Inside the housing, a rotary unit (fixed to the shaft) consists of a massive stainless steel spring and a graphite ring, which is pressed against the forward end of the housing where a stainless-steel ring sits. It has a hose barb for the intake of cooling water, is very compact, only 11 cm (4.3″) long for our 35 mm shaft, making it probably the only face-type option when space is limited.
Our ProfiSeal has kept the boat dry for incredible 23 years and its endurance against the constant galvanic attacks from a much nobler close-by neighbourhood is extraordinary. We only changed the rotating unit and the stainless counter ring after we had to pull the shaft for repairs six years ago. We contacted the company and were astounded by the swift customer support. Spare parts were available without delay and came with professional advice which helped with the re-installation. As the aluminium housing now showed some corrosion, we installed a new shaft seal when we were on the hard last week–of course a ProfiSeal again.
Installing our new ProfiSeal
