3 ms·

Anyone know how the seals work around the rotating parts (propellers and axles) to prevent water from getting inside the chassis?

• throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  You have basically three options for that kind of thing, single/multiple lip seals, prop shaft packing and machined grooves to pull the water out (as the shaft rotates, it will leak when not moving). Those options can be employed individually or together single or multiple on a given shaft. For example a commodity submersible sump pump may have 2-4 seals stacked in series to keep water out of the motor and an engine crankshaft typically uses a lip seal paired with machined grooves. Also I'm probably forgetting something so you probably actually have four options. A quick google search doesn't make it clear which ones the amphicar uses where.
  • jeffreyrogers 5y ago
    > Also I'm probably forgetting something so you probably actually have four options. I looked into this some more and there is a forth option! A dripless shaft seal (there are different names for this as well) uses a collar that rotates with the prop shaft and a graphite or carbon stator that presses against the collar. The graphite stator is self lubricating (seawater works as a lubricant as well) so its supposed to require very little maintenance. Here's an article that explains it pretty well: https://www.passagemaker.com/technical/troubleshooter-understanding-shaft-seals https://www.passagemaker.com/technical/troubleshooter-unders...
  • jeffreyrogers 5y ago
    Thanks, this is very interesting.