Had planned a quick sail with my son Jeff over the weekend of 9/15. About 5 minutes off the dock I hear the high water alarm blaring, not a good start. Apparently, what was left of the flax in my stuffing box disintegrated and I had water pouring in the bilge. Not that this constitutes a true emergency as the onboard bilge pumps should handle the flow quite easily. It was just that at the same moment, BOTH of my float switches decided to crap out. What are the odds? So back to the dock to make repairs. After a day of going through the fuses, pumps, switches, wiring, etc. It was determined that the problem was the float switches even though a continuity test showed they should be working. So back to the marine store to pick up new ones. Made it to Monday with the pumps working automatically and took her to Indiantown Marina. While on the hard, re-painted the bottom and cleaned the hull as well as repacked the stuffing box with the new graphite (GFO) packing and replaced the "shaft saver" transmission coupling. Did a few minor projects while I was dry. Got back in the water on the 25th of September. All is well and the new packing has been great, no leaks. Indiantown Marina did leave me one parting gift, red sling marks on my clean hull.