Marine drives and methods of making marine drives so as to minimize deleterious effects of cavitation

A marine drive for propelling a marine vessel in water, the marine drive extending from top to a bottom in a vertical direction, from a front to a rear in a longitudinal direction which is perpendicular to the vertical direction, and from a port side to a starboard side in a lateral direction which is perpendicular to the vertical direction and perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, the marine drive comprising:

• a gearcase having a strut, the gearcase being configured to support at least one propeller located forwardly of the gearcase and configured such rotation of the at least one propeller propels the marine vessel in the water, and
• the gearcase being configured such that when viewed in a plane in the lateral direction and the longitudinal direction, the strut has a leading end portion having a minimum width from the port side to the starboard side in the lateral direction, a body portion with a maximum width from the port side to the starboard side in the lateral direction, and a trailing end portion having a minimum width in the lateral direction from the port side to the starboard side which is greater than said minimum width of the leading end portion and equal to or less than said maximum width of the body portion, wherein as result the marine drive is configured to maintain pressure alongside the gearcase during said rotation of the at least one propeller that reduces deleterious effects of cavitation on the gearcase.