[Rich]

Sometimes the cost of the labor is so high, due to the amount of work involved to take it apart, and put it back together, that it's worth replacing as much as you can (in parts cost) to make smart use of that expensive labor charge.

PLUS (this is important in my eyes), you don't want this to fail right at the peak of summer, when you want to use the boat the most.

I had a problem a few years ago, suddenly one of my engines wouldn't run at all. This was the start of the Independence day week. I had a weeks vacation planned and with the 4th of July just a couple of days away and I had a boat full of friends and relatives on their way, some were flying in.

It turned out to be a lot of water in one of my fuel tanks. Luckily my boat was setup to allow either engine to be switched from one tank, to another.

Catastrophe diverted, and everyone had a great time on the boat, while I ran both engines on the one tank that didn't have water in it.

So, do you want to have a failure during a peak time of the summer? Or would you rather pay now, before the season is in full swing. To me this is worth it to fix it ahead of time and not have this fail right when you would prefer to be using the boat the most.

As to the cost of labor vs parts, this reminds me of hearing my Dad complain about a bill he got back about in the year 1972 (he was a joint owner for a 44ft Egg Harbor Sport Fish). He was complaining about a bill he received from the boat yard that stated:

Parts: $2.75
Labor: $2,500.00

He was livid about the bill until he called and found out what the bill was for.

Evidentially, they had to remove the 'tuna tower' from the boat to allow the boat to be brought into a storage building for winter storage. The $2,500.00 was for the labor to remove the tuna tower from the boat. The $2.75 was for the piece of rope to tie the tower against a wall during storage.

To the OP, please let us know what happens.