Dripless seal woes and risks
Had similar problems as described by Dean with a relatively new PYI system (re-installed in Townsville, Australia 5 months earlier) while motoring into the big lagoon near Vuda Point marina (Fiji) to haul "Rivendel II" out for the cyclone season. Thought at first that it was the Hurth transmission till I noticed that the PYI bellows and seal were very, very hot!!! When I tried to burp the seal, hot steam came out!! Thus we motored the last few hours to the marina while pouring cold water over the PYI seal flange and bellows from a teakettle. I believe we came very, very close to disaster then......Encrusted salt from a small leak (caused by light pressure on the bellows from the floor board!) had apparetnly roughened the surface of the dripless seal enough to cause excessive friction and heating, even at the low engine rpms we typically motor at (max. 2000 rpm). Since the rubber bellows appeared to have lost some of its elasticity we not only modified the floor board but also replaced the entire PYI assembly with the water-cooled PYI model (meant for high rpm power boats). Haven't had any trouble since.Nonetheless, I do have the same ambiguous feelings about the possibility of catastrophic failure as articulated by Jim. Although we have reinforced our Hunter's flimsy fiberglass shaft pipe and frequently inspect the PYI bellows I feel we should have stayed with the old stuffing box (plus new teflon packing, of course). Why risk anything for a few drops of seawater? Our bilge is never totally dry anyhow with all the tropical rains, seawater over the bow, refrigerator defrosting, etc, some of which inevitably finds its way into the bilge.Therefore, I plan to change back to the old stuffing box next time we replace the cutless bearing!!Flying Dutchman