Manecraft Deep Sea Seal - Replacement?

[Colin Stone]

The DSS is 20 years old and has been immersed in mainly fresh water most of the the time.
Last month I forgot to open the cooling water valve and ran for about 24 hours at approx 400 shaft rpm.
Later I discovered the closed valve and a bit of dampness in normally dry areas.
On turning the shaft, the seal started substantial drips every couple of seconds. I used the emergency jubilee clip to stop it.
A week later we continued our trip and after a few hours with valve open and clip undone, the drips had reduced substantially. A day later and dry again.
I have a new seal arriving. But I'm wondering whether I really need to replace it??
The rubber is all excellent. Although the access is good, it is still a bit of a job to undo the Centa AGM at the thrust bearing and pull the shaft sufficiently.
With a spare onboard, plus a spare cutlass bearing, I'm tempted to leave it be??

[skipperpete]

The shaft seal would still have had contact with seawater through the stern tube, in fact, a lot of shaft seals ( dripless and lip seal ) don’t have an active water flow like yours, just the static volume in the sterntube, and the only time that face or lip damage is likely to occur with these is if the tube and shaft seal is left “un burped” after a haulout or grounding.

[Colin Stone]

Yes, I know some water will get through the cutlass, but it won't be much of a cooling flow. The normal flow method has a scoop to force water through and cool the rubbing faces.