Gearcase assemblies for marine drives having replaceable nose caps

A gearcase assembly for a marine drive, the gearcase assembly comprising:

• a gearcase including a torpedo housing;
• a nose cap coupled to the torpedo housing, the nose cap including a stem that axially extends into a bore in a front of the torpedo housing, and a head having a through-bore configured to admit water into the gearcase for cooling the marine drive;
• and
• a retainer spring including a resiliently deformable annular body contained in an annular slot located radially between the bore of the torpedo housing and the stem of the nose cap;
• wherein the retainer spring removably couples the nose cap to the torpedo housing via a twist-lock interface configured so that inserting the stem of the nose cap into the bore of the torpedo housing initially engages the nose cap with the torpedo housing via the retainer spring, and so that subsequently rotating the nose cap relative to the bore to an installed position on the torpedo housing bends the resiliently deformable annular body of the retainer spring, which causes the retainer spring to bias the nose cap into the bore toward a rear of the torpedo housing when the nose cap is in the installed position wherein the resiliently deformable annular body includes deformable segments that are spaced apart from each other around the resiliently deformable annular body, the deformable segments configured to be bent as the nose cap is rotated to the installed position and to remain bent when the nose cap is in the installed position, and further includes rigid segments that are spaced apart from each other around the resiliently deformable annular body and interdigitated with the deformable segments, the rigid segments configured to remain a consistent shape as the nose cap is coupled to and uncoupled from the torpedo housing.