We are currently having our keel leak issues repaired.
We removed the shaft, rear bearing holder, forward shaft flange and forward bearing. What we found was that the stern tube (ours is bronze vs fiberglass) was leaking at the joint where the tube screws into the shaft flange on both the forward end and the aft end.
Upon removal of the rear bearing holder we also found that 2 of the mount studs were loose and somewhat corroded. We believe that they were either dislodged at removal or were leaking also.
Our solution will most likely be to have the shaft tube lined with a reinforced epoxy designed and used for lining industrial pipelines. We plan to treat the length of the shaft tube although during pressure tests it was determined that only the joints at each end of the tube were leaking. We are also cutting in an access port just ahead of shaft flange in the engine room.
To address the loose studs at the stern flange we will need to cut access large enough to get a hand into on each side of the keel to replace the studs. While I’m not thrilled with the idea of cutting into the keel, it will be a necessity.
To remove and refit a new stern tube will be a very expensive job and likely unnecessary if the stern tube is otherwise in serviceable condition. The keel leaks I’m familiar with from conversations with other owners and in speaking with a few yards that have done this work on other Selene’s were remedied without replacing the stern tube