Hi,
That is definitely a mess-O-grease!
Kind of hard for me to make out exactly from your photo but my GUESS would be that it's from either a GOB that was left by someone that was in a hurry and missed the zerk nipple with the grease gun OR...
...the zerk itself is damaged or plugged up and won't take grease.
Either way, they didn't clean up the mess they made!
Likely not a big deal but you should probably clean it off the best you can and remove the zerk fitting and replace it if it's damaged or clear it so that grease will pass through it into the pivoting joint.
What can be a big deal though is if the joint itself is plugged up with old grease and dirt and won't allow grease in. In that case, the pivot joint can be damaged over time.
If that's the case, it might be necessary to actually disassemble the pivot to get it cleaned out. Truly a total pain in most cases!
Although, there are industrial, HIGH POWER grease guns that we used for construction equipment to force fresh grease through and push out the blockage.
Those were great for a quick fix but didn't always work if the blockage was too hard. The longer a joint is plugged, the harder the plug seems to get and the more difficult it is to clear.
The problem with grease is that it attracts dirt and eventually develops into a sort of sanding or grinding compound that destroys stuff if not regularly replaced with fresh.
So, cleaning up the mess and dealing with whatever the issue is would be your best move.
Welcome to the forum and to boating. That looks like a pretty SWEET 50hp Honda for a 1998!
Good luck.
