Hello all, quick question I'm hoping someone can answer. The lower unit has 2 shafts, 1 gear/throttle and 1 drive. This is kind of hard to put into words but here goes. The gear shaft comes down the motor and into the lower unit. At the bottom just before it goes into the lower unit it is encased in a foamy material. This is exterior and visible. My winter cover rope recently got caught up in there and took a little of this foam out as the rope was being pulled. It still looks pretty good but I don't know. I'm not a mechanic and don't know what the purpose of this is and don't know the impact if something is wrong. Can someone shed some light on this??? Thanks!!!