Being less than a year in the boating world I made a big mistake a few weeks ago, I misread my chart and whacked a rock bottom, smashing the prop, and (being an auto tech) checked the prop shaft and found 15 thousands of radial, 30 thousandths of total indicated runout.<br /><br />Read a lot on the boards about prop shaft runout with conflicting advice, so I dropped the oil out of the lower, and voila, there was water in the gear oil. It was changed in the fall and there was no water, one outing, whack the prop, and there is, so the shaft is letting water in past the seal.<br /><br />Phoned around, got estimates in the thousands of dollars. Considered doing it myself, talked to the foreman at a small local outfit who advised me against it as even though I'm a auto tech reassembly of the gearset in a Merc lower unit is a learned skill. He also told me that he straightens them himself rather than send them out.<br /><br />So less than $100 CDN later, the lower is back on the boat and the prop shaft has less than 2 thousandths runout.<br /><br />I strongly advise anyone with a bent prop shaft to get it fixed, as if mine at 15 thou radial was letting in that much water I can't imagine what it would do the the bearings and gears with continued use.<br /><br />I also strongly recommend finding a reputable local repair shop. All the ones I talked to either wouldn't touch it or demanded that I replace the prop shaft, bearings, and all the gears. The outfit I found has been in business for years and speaking with their foreman was very reassured. Anyone new to boating should certainly ask around and find out who are the people to deal with. The good ones are few and far between but worth the time to find them before trouble strikes.<br /><br /> 