Have been communicating with a friend who has been in the Caribbean for a couple of years and was headed home. North of Puerto Rico sailing downwind headed to Turks & Caicos, middle of the night of course, bilge pump comes on - not normal! Turns out something slipped on the shaft seal and they were taking on a lot of water. Managed to stop the shaft from turning which minimized water flow. Decision was made to head back for PR.

More to the story, but as most people think of dripless shaft seals as being "maintenance free" I thought I'd point out that in reading about them they do require both inspection and maintenance.