Newbie - Stuffing tube leak?

[Steve_Aus]

Hi all! New SV owner from Perth, Australia

First - great forum! I was going to buy a Fastech, but the amount of great info and helpful guys here made me see the light :)

Ok - so i took delivery on the weekend ;-) and ive been working through 'the list' (moving the antenna, moving the battery trays, sealing the transom hardware).

Ive put my sv into the bath for a test, and im still getting a leak, which ive pretty much narrowed down to the surface drive shaft. I didnt remove the surface drive when i did the sealing, just unbolted it and put silicon behind the mounting plate.

couple of questions:
- does the copper drive shaft tube extend the whole way to the end of the surface drive shaft? (i suspect the water is leaking between the copper tube and the surface drive shaft)
- Should i remove the whole surface drive and reseal where the drive shaft tube exits the transom? Should it just slide off? (it didnt seem to want to move, although, i didnt try too hard). would greasing the outside of the drive tube help stop the leak
- Or should i try using a slice of silicon fuel tube as a washer?

Am i on the right track? Any feed back appreciated!

Another question - What size hex drive fits the grub screws in the drive dog and the motor coupler? Smallest i have is 1mm.

Anyhow! Thanks for all the great posts!!

Steve.

[Mash13]

Hey there steve, i'm from Perth aswell mate. I found that my stuffing tube leaked from the factory, so now I regrease it every run. I have also run a small bead of silicon between the transom and surface drive shaft. The only place water gets in mine from is from the stuffing tube (brass tubing) and the way to stop that leak is grease, and lots of it (try aquacraft grimracer speed grease).
Where abouts are you in perth? I'm SOR and generally run around canning vale, as theres heaps of housing estate lakes to choose from. Sometimes I hit the swan river early before the chop gets up.
Good luck with the SV steve their a great boat :)