Water pump gasket

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For the first time since I've owned it, the SWing started dripping a bit on the garage floor.  I must admit that it weirded me out a little, because this thing just does not do that, as a rule.

I took it on a 300 mile in the mountains last week.  Before I left and after I returned, I was careful to check oil and coolant levels...no detectable problems with either that I could see.  Parked the bike when I got home and next day, another drip.  

I decided that I needed to give the filter another half-turn, since I had recently changed oil and filter...I was thinking that maybe there was a drip coming from the filter and blowing back from the wind.  I tightened the filter and forgot about it.  Next day, I went back out and checked again...another drip.  I finally got smart and looked at the fluid and figured out it's not oil...it's coolant.  

I pulled the side cover back off and looked again.  Finally found the drip source at the bottom of the water pump on the gasket line...NOT the drain bolt.

I'm pretty sure I have a bad water pump gasket.  The factory manual suggests that changing it out is not too difficult, but I've been fooled before.  Have any of you done a water pump gasket replacement?  How tough is it?  Are there any hints or special things I need to know before I attempt it?  Remember, I'm your basic semi-dextrous, partially educated, fumble fingers dude who's just trying to save a bit of money.  If it's going to be to difficult for the likes of me, I'll take it to the dealer, but I'd prefer not to have to do so.

All comments welcome.  

There was a thread earlier this year about a leaking water pump IIRC. Seems to me that the pump replacement was very straight forward. Unbolt the bolts, pull out the old pump, slide in the new pump. But the biggest difficulty was: A) Carefully removing the coolant hoses so that they could be reused; and/or B) Refilling the correct amount coolant. It seems that there is some choreography and physical gymnastic routine you've got to perform to insure that there isn't an air lock in the system. Check the archives.

Please let us know how you get on with this.

Tim

Jinglebob what year is your Silverwing? I ask just so any of us who may have one close to the same age may want to keep an eye on our pumps.
As for any advice on the gasket replacement I've never had to replace one on a Silverwing yet so I can't give you any help.

It's a 2002 with about 32K miles on it.

Will check archives, but currently leaning towards having the dealer fool with it. I don't think I'm smart enough to do it, judging by the service manual...

Four bolts, two O-rings. Easy Peasy. The dealer will probably replace the entire pump though. Water Pump, $130 vs two O-rings, $10. Same labor.

I can't tell what is dripping on yours, but will say before you change seals, make sure you aren't leaking on one of the water hoses and it's not running down the hose. On both my house's Silverwings (2012 and 2007), we have periodic coolant leaks that tightening the hose clamps fix (on a small hose, not one of the big ones). Please don't be insulted if the problem isn't this - I don't know what your level of technical skill is and suspect that coolant leaks are fairly common on these scoots at the hose clamps (Honda seems remarkably consistent with the tiny things they did slightly wrong between model years!)

Not insulted at all...welcome all comments, see above...  

I checked the hoses when I had the side panel off...saw no evidence of leaking or dripping, but might have missed. I'll check again.

Limited technical skill. The basics...no problem....but I know my limits and I have the factory service manual to help me understand what is involved...