Months ago now we had the old propeller off of the shaft and had started to install the shiny new one when we realized that the shaft was loose in the bearing.  That entire situation snowballed into us having to remove the entire propshaft assembly from the boat (it took 2 days of struggle.. total pain in the ass!).  And, of course, once the shaft was out we realized that it was worn and we needed a new one.  After numerous repairs to other parts and a brand new shaft, we finally got everything reinstalled and the large, gaping hole in the back of the boat was filled!  Huzzah!

One of the things we bought to do this project right was a dripless shaft seal.  Usually there’s a little widget that goes on the shaft right where it exits the boat that’s jammed full of packing material and tightened until it leaks just enough to keep the seal lubricated but not enough that it’s a real leak.  That’s… kind of a shitty way to go about things!  Our new dripless shaft seal uses better bushings and the interface between the vertical faces of the flange and rotor to keep water out of the boat.

I didn’t get many good pictures because it’s in a hole at the back of the boat under a mattress…. but it’s a thing we did on the boat, so here it is!