5.7 crusader raw water cooled leaking water underside of starter

Got a problem with my CC Dory engine. Looks like it's been leaking water from the underside of the starter up where it bolts into the bell housing and runs down to the end of the starter into the bilge. Water leaks most at idle , a good trickle, then goes away 1ooo rpm and up.
Engine runs great, all oils clean and free of water.
It's a GM 350 , btw.

Engine water temp has been a consistent 175 F at 1200 rpm or less; 185 or so at 1300rpm on up all summer.
Is this a big problem or can it wait till winter for me to fix? And what do I fix?
I realize it IS a problem and not right.

November or another 40 hours....
It's a light trickle.
Weird that it seems to go away under higher RPM... Or is it just leaking out elsewhere ... I can not see it if it is.

Ok , you would think Crusader would have done it right? So when the fly wheel gets spinning around faster it slings the water all around in the bell housing ..? I'll look at the housing while under way.
So basically I' m rusting things up with in the housing including the transmission and starter ? And drive shaft spline ?

The engine is a 2001 5.7 power pack, valve cover bolts going down the top centers.
It's a low hour engine, stil looks brand new. Serial number 610616
I am the second owner of the engine.

Ok, I've been obsessing over this **** engine problem now..
I did some research with the model and serial numbers.
My serial number ; 6 = 2000 decade ; 1 = 2001
Model is a ; left hand rotation ; distributor - carb ; 350 cid ho GM.
Looks like from the service manual on line , that there are two ''plugs'' in the block behind the fly wheel. I assume these are the freeze plugs?
Maybe I or previous owner did not winterize the engine properly?
Since I never make mistakes and have done the winterization myself , it must have been the other owner..LOL.
Perhaps I did not get the engine up to full running temp, before I ran the pink stuff through it.

WHATT? 10? Lol! Maybe 11 plugs....I've done all of that, plus and new fuel pump and alternator they went fist year from lack of use I would say.

Thank You both, just the guys I was hoping to hear from for straight advise. Well it's been this way all summer, this is my second or so summer with the boat. You would never know the engine was a 2001. All the paint is still in place through out. New engine in 2001 and sat in a barn mostly with little use in MD. May be 20 hrs per year till 2011. I got the boat 2017. Original owner too. Never had bottom paint on it since 1974. Was a virgin bottom! I changed that quickly! ..Lol. Baltimore copper red..well Interlux red, and a black water line.
Anyway I run/flush the motor with fresh water after use, every time at the dock at 180 f. Will work on it soon, but not yet. Will do it in my shop this winter.

CR, This one is fast! Was racing a new 24'? Sea Hunt with a 300 hp out board and four Adults on board , same with me four adults on my Dory and I pasted him a first , then he got by me OB trimmed up all he could, by a knot or two.
We raced to the same dock side bar and he told me his GPS was at 50 mph , so I must have been around 48 mph at 4900 rpm with my new prop..I still don't have a GPS unit yet..or a depth finder! Lol

Holy Crow CR!! Time, time , time is hard to find . Just changing out freeze plugs is going to be an ordeal for me!
I do have trim tabs which I installed . This boat won't run or handle right with out them. To keep from porpoising and rolling side to side etc.

Maybe I'll paint it black and put KAMA down the sides and drive like Betty Cook , that should be good for three more knots .

Thanks for the personal tips . I'm not that smart, I'll just change the freeze plugs .

It's only been almost a year since I brought up this question/post so thought I would give an update.
All freeze out plugs are fine. I check visually what I could this spring, also noted no water running out the start starter whether at idle or under way.
BUT, I have noticed why at time water trickles out the back of the starter. Keep in mind the bottom of my bell housing and transmission are maybe 2 or 3 inches from the bottom of the bilge. It's tight!

My Dory solely relies on bilge pumps to remove rain water, wash water...anywater that gets in the boat. If that water is just a little high water gets into the lower bell housing then the flywheel whirls the water all around and into the starter till it pumps overboard. This does not happen all of the time, depending on how much fuel is in the aft transom fuel tank , the boat sits stern down full, stern up light fuel. So the water collects at various spots on any given time. This includes when getting up on plane and water collects against the mid bulk head and runs to the aft area and aft bilge pump through a factory limber hole. At times this causes a temporary leak out the starter via, flywheel water whirl. NOT all the time.
I have two pumps one aft in front of the rudder. One forward just under the front of the motor.

Finally my question is this, how can I top water from entering the bell housing? I thought a Crusader MARINE motor was designed not to do this. Thought it would be water tight. Or is something wrong with the bell housing?

Yes the motor is older, 2001, but it's only been run and used since I've had the boat( 2016). Entire motor still has factory blue paint everywhere on it. No hour meter on the motor guessing less than 300 to date.

Motor heads! please advise!

Is it possible then or normal ,in this situation, to get water in the bell housing? Or is there a way to seal it up?