The catastrophic failure I am talking about is with the newer dripless shaft seals without the flax. I guess I am now even more confused as to what the ceramic seals and bellows are then. If someone wouldn't mind giving an example, maybe linkwise, as to what this is.....I GOOGLED ceramic seals and bellows and came up with nada.......I thought you guys were referring to the older style stuffing boxes and were suggesting I replace with this:
http://www.shaftseal.com/product_categories/300000001
These shaft seals are maintenance free, but when they fail you fill your boat up with water hence the "catastrophic failure" quote.
MP