Blue water dripless shaft seals no longer dripless..

I wouldn't. The BWS are solid seals as are PSS. I have replaced several sets of Tidewaters because they locked onto the shaft and then tore the water hose off and played weedeater in the engine room cutting chilled water lines, bonding wires and more. I've had more issues with Tidewater seals than any brand. 2 boats the tidewaters locked onto the shaft, another one it ate .60" out of the shaft and had to replace the entire shaft. Actually the only issues I've had with all of the boats I manage have been Tidewaters. Had one BWS seal leak and need replacing, but no major issues with any other brand.

I guess everyone has their preferred brand. Haven't had any issue with my Tidewaters. That's what our local boat yard (SeaLove) recommends because they haven't had any issues with them.

Both the Bluewater and Tides Sure seals are nitrile lip seals and the only significant difference is the housing material, bronze vs. composite. The majority of the failures of either brand have been attributed to loss of cooling water caused by zinc fragments in the hose barbs. The installation instructions don't specify one (and probably should) but adding a fine mesh strainer in the cooling water supply line (and adding it to the maintenance schedule!) takes care of this problem. I've done hundreds of both types using strainers and no one has reported it happening since.

If I'm correct Post installed Tidewaters on my boat when it was built in 1998. They lasted until 2014! I replaced them with Bluewater - basically the same set up. So far , so good

I have had issues on the tidewaters where the composite section swelled into the shaft and locked it to the shaft. Next time the boat was put in gear on the next trip, the tideseal spun with the shaft, breaking the cooling hoses off, and swinging them around like a weedeater. I've had this happen on 2 or 3 different boats. It seems that if the boat has sat for a few months that this problem occured.

If you pull it off with nothing running, you should get water flowing out of the dripless connection at a good pace from the water under the hull. If you start the motor, you should get good flow out of the cooling hose. You don't want either blocked.....once every 6 months should be sufficient.

When checking for flow coming out of the shaft seal you're looking to see if the hose barb is clogged or not.

Yes, the water should back feed through the dripless seals hose barb.

Sounds about right. Cost could go above $1500 per shaft if they need to go out for spa treatment.

That's reasonable to drop the shaft and install the seal.

Is there anywhere to get these seals besides from chatfield in New Zealand?

My boatyard ordered the seals from a local company that sells seals (not necessarily marine) of all different types ($20) that fit perfectly in my BWS. Actually may still have one or two in the boat. I changed my BWS out to Tides a couple of years later so I could have a spare or two on the shaft. I still have my Blue Water Shaft couplers should you need them. 2.5"

Try Sams Marine in Fort Lauderdale. They specialize in Cabo (and Hatteras) parts.

Bill,
Great idea to put one on the water lines exiting from the transmission coolers to the shaft seals. A couple of times I have found the line or elbow clogged from zincs in cooler. Did you remove the elbow coming out of the trans cooler as that seems to be where most of the zinc parts get stuck & clog the line up. I believe my lines are 3/8" id.