Is it the bearings that die? Or something else?

I have the old style which are the better blowers that came with the 575's......I just sent mine to Darren Mayor and was told they are in the best condition they have ever seen come through their shop.....why? Because I change oil every 50 hrs....and this is the second time I have had the blowers gone through and the bearings changed........ I guess anything can happen but, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure......if you find a screen that works let us know, I am sure it wouldn't hurt, but proper maintenance is surely the best insurance......

and yes it is the rear bearing in the later (B&M) blower that fails (grease packed).....once the bearing fails the two rotors inside start to bang into one another and eventually (rather quickly I am sure) self destruct and pollute the engine with shrapnel which then causes catastrophic ($$) failure.......

isn't a screen going to stop a lot of airflow? and 4bus, please turn your avatar around and take another pic...

You have the preferred blowers, change oils and run them.

Seems the biggest issue with the pre-03 575's is head gasket failures. When I got my 03's I searched here and found that 02's and older used gaskets that were very prone to failures. The advice given for 02's and older was upgrade head gaskets immediately.

Funny, they told me mine were the best they had seen. Brian asked why they were there and if they had been run. Told him preventative service based on all the horror stories. DMP does a great job with service and upgrades to these blowers.

that's funny......guess we both take care of our stuff, or Brian is just blowing smoke up our arses...lol.......

Mine were there a few years ago. Yours are now the bestest.

More good news, followed by bad news How soon were these head gaskets know to fail? Safer to get at least this season out of them?

I am no expert so I really can't answer that question, but I am curious to know if after sitting for so long with no run time on the boat/engines/drives is there other stuff that should be checked for like dry rotting of gaskets and hoses ? or anything else to be looked after before running her....... and 4bus, good luck to you with the new boat, sounds like a great find !!