No, the tube feeding the bottle is pretty small, and over time, the mix could make it up through the tube but IMO before that happens your drive would be damaged beyond repair.
Absolutely Right.
It doesn't take much water in the drive to produce pressure once the drive gets hot.....just a few teaspoons will produce a fair amount of steam.
Your seals can start leaking in both directions but not always at the same time. I.E. It's possible that they'll hold a fair amount of pressure but won't hold very much vacuum.
The drive heats up and while cooling, the drive lube monitor will slowly allow oil to flow back into the drive as the small air pocket "shrinks"
If any of the seals start leaking during the vacuum produced during cool down, some water can be sucked in through a leaky seal..
You NEED to get that boat out of the water and drain some drive oil to inspect for water intrusion (I would do BOTH)
If you drained and refilled the drives last winter prior to winterization and there was no evidence of water, you may be catching the leak early. If you didn't, the water may have been in there for an entire winter (and there may be damage already)
The earlier you catch it the better. There is an ASTM specification for hypoid gear oil to still provide adequate lubrication even when contaminated with a certain amount of water. So you may be just fine. I would not wait though.
Regards,
Rick
