Last month I posted a question about a weeping muffler that the surveyor had recommended be replaced. First, I want to thank all those who responded off-line, particularly with regard to the issue of potential CO leakage and water damage. Everyone advised that I get the job done sooner rather than later. I had a quote to replace the muffler and re-route it, but it seemed a bit steep. So, last Monday, I phoned another shop - Sydney Propeller and Marine - that's been in business for many years and asked if the owner could stop by and give me a quote not only to replace the muffler, but to correct all of the mechanical deficiency findings. His reply was, "Why not just bring the boat to our dock?" I did that the following morning, and gave him the itemized list: Repair / Replace exhaust system; Change softwall hoses on engine antisiphon loop; Raw water hose for wash down pump must be changed; Main engine raw water suction hose changed and better secured; Adjust rudder gland; Change all engine coolant to EC-1 compatible coolant; and clean and oil engine air filter. After carefully inspecting everything himself, he said that the rudder gland is a non-adjustable seal, and unless the next haul-out shows it's been damaged, to leave it as the amount of weepage is neglible. Morever, there should be no need to replace the fibreglass muffler. Instead, it would be just as effective and much less expensive to re-new it by wrapping it in a couple of layers of fibreglass. If that were acceptable, he estimated 12 hours @$80 per plus materials. I asked when he could start and finish. He said if I could leave the boat now he'd have it all done by Friday afternoon. I did and he did. When I went to pick up the boat, the bill came to $2,139, somewhat higher than anticipated because he had fabricated two huge aluminum brackets to secure the muffler to the stringer in place of the 4 machine screws that had fastened it to a piece of plywood on top of the holding tank. Vibration had been a big part of the original failure, and it's obvious that cannot happen again. I also had to look more than once to see that the muffler had, in fact, been "re-newed", the job was cosmetically that good. BTW, the first estimate totalled just under $7,000. A very good day all round. Cheers, Garrett