You wouldn't know it from our site logbook, but we we had a great season of boating last year; I just haven't stayed on top of updating things around this site very well :^( I will try to make amends shortly and get things caught up before I get too far behind, and will add in both directions (past & current) until I get things back on track.
While going to warm up the transmission prior to changing it's oil 3 weeks ago, the graphite & s/s surfaces of the Dripless Shaft Seal stuck together as I put it in gear, and the rubber bellows began spinning around on the shaft log -creating chards of rubber and lots of smoke! Fortunately I had hatches open to that area and noticed it right away, but exciting none the less. After shutting down and ensuring all was secure and water tight. I started making arrangements to repair. A haul-out would be required, but I was planning that for a couple of weeks down the road (zincs, hull cleaning, checking on bottom paint, etc.) anyways. Last years' haul out was kind of a base-line; I was most interested to see if we would need to do bottom paint this year. So this year just added a little bit extra to do. I wasn't planning on being out of the water as long as we were (4 days), but wanted to open up the DSS and check out everything before ordering parts, so to advantage of the warmish weather and got a coat of wax on the hull, as well as touched up the bottom paint where it was worn on the leading edges (full job for next year), while awaiting parts delivery.
Other than the 'hurry up and wait' type of activity that always seems to accompany any work in a boatyard, things went well. After returning to our slip I left her running in gear for an hour (recommended break-in period), and all appeared good. Next time out we'll take her for a quick motoring up at cruising RPM, but do not expect any issues.
There's (always) a few more bits to take care of, but so looking forward to our first overnight cruises of the season.