Shoot man, if you have it seviced by a technician in the fall, I'd just let him fix it! He might have some nifty little tool that could save you all the trouble of having to drop the lower unit. But if you're going to the all the trouble of dropping it, why not take advantage of it and do some other maintenance on it like putting in a new impeller. I like killing two birds with one stone!

When it comes to boat repair, nothing is EVER easy!!!!