We decided while we were hauled out for Kyle Ulrick of Swan Creek Marina, to paint and wax and replace our gold stripe, that we would pull the stern tube and replace all. The last time this was done, was 2013 by the Island Packet Factory. Now after 2700 hours of motoring and many trips up and down the ICW and into the Bahamas and even the Caribbean, we thought it was time.
I will say, this job was way harder than I recalled from when I did it myself in 2001, I guess being 21 years older might be the reason. I highly recommend not trying this yourself. The biggest challenge was pulling off the prop shaft transmission coupler. That was very difficult. The yard mechanics said we would never get that off, well, that just made us work harder.
Thanks for some great buddies, like Freddie and Ken and Ray and Don and Radeen, we all worked for two days and pulled the stern tube and installed a new one along with a new packing gland and new packing. She is ready for another 2700 nm and 10 years at least.
Here is the Facebook post about this