My Mac 26 Mark was built in 1966 and bought by father in 1980. I have owned her since he died in 2003. I stripped her 2013/14 and refitted at some cost but did not interfere with a number of original parts a. on the grounds that costs were running away and b. because of the old adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. I did the work myself apart from the engine aspects including a complete rewire. She looked like new. The original Volvo Penta 7HP (still running) was replaced with a Beta 20 fitted professionally with a new shaft in the original bronze tube.  Whilst happy with the engine’s performance on the water (bearing in mind tides in the Menai Strait) there has been some disappointment with clogging of the tubes in the heat exchanger from rust deposits requiring 2 x flushing exercises at some cost. I’ve since discovered that the engine was manufactured a full 12 months before it was fitted so maybe standing idle with no anti freeze contributed to this. Also, the cutlass bearing had to be replaced after only 3 years which was an expensive job as the engineers insisted on removing the engine into the cabin to withdraw the shaft – the rudder cannot be easily withdrawn. When the Volvo was in I’ve no memory of needing to replace the bearing!   In late 2020 I took the boat out of the water for some months as I had a deck paint issue, general maintenance and needed to replace several valves, something I should probably have done on the major refit in the first place.  The engine was serviced again by the original engine fitters but they pointed out play in the shaft. Indeed there was some 3mm of play. Still unhappy with previous bills, I engaged another well thought of marine engineer I knew of. He replaced the cutlass bearing at a very reasonable cost. However, only months later, I am experiencing a grinding noise, once again, when I first engage the boat in gear. I’ve only done about 30 hours steaming since the bearing was replaced. The nut on the stern gland does have to be adjusted regularly to regulate the amount of ‘drips’ coming through to cool it – too loose and I can come back to the boat after two weeks to a lot of pumping out from the bilge and too tight it risks overheating the shaft and bearing. I sometimes have to ‘nip’ the nut with a slight tightening when the engine has run for a few hours. Anyone else with similar experience? Ordinarily, I would not be intending to take the boat out of the water until 2023 for a look see and anti fouling. Every two years is normally quite often enough.