" That sinking feeling"

Well I said after our shakedown cruise the boat was running well. I was wro.....mistaken. Greg and Loyd said the out drive sounded loud to them, so I figured I'd change the fluids in the upper and lower units. I drained the lower unit, fluid looked fine. I drained the upper unit and came to the conclusion it should be full of fluids other than pure H2O. We pulled the out drive off the boat, pulled it apart and found every bearing and seal toasted. Also found the water pump housing and impeller toasted. I mean put a fork in it, it's done toasted! I called Keith at N.A.P.A and had him scrounge up all the bearings,races and seals I needed then ordered a new pump assy from e-basic power on line.(Great place for replacement marine parts). I got all the bearings and seals replaced that I could. Greg and Loyd came over and gave me a hand removing a bearing race I couldn't get out of the upper case. Loyd had a slide hammer puller that did the trick quite well. The upper unit is all together now. I'm just waiting for the water pump assy to arrive, (Tuesday) so I can join the upper and lower units and reinstall them on the boat.
Gregs luck isn't much better. On the shakedown cruise he said his wasn't running quite right. He went to install a fresh set of plugs in his 200 hp Evinrude and found water in the number 6 cylinder. OUCH! The head gasket was okay but the exhaust air box gasket was leaking. It scored the piston, but we think,(hope)it'll last this season and we'll fix it in the fall. Things could have been worse. I just wish the previous owner would have made an attempt to do regular maintenance so this shit wouldn't have happened. At least now we know everything has been completely gone thru, so we foresee no more problems. Maybe. Please. I hope.