stuck in reverse!! sea weed causing it?

I recently bought an '85 260 Sundancer and had the engine (mercruiser chevy 350) completely rebuilt. That also included some new parts (spark plugs, hoses, belts, etc) as well as servicing the out drive and replacing U-joint. Also replaced the shift cable (I advised them to check the shifting because it didn't feel quite right).

So I was out with a few friends and I suppose I was a bit close to the shore at one point and there was (unexpectedly) a lot of seaweed. I believe some seaweed must've gotten wrapped around the prop because it looked like we were dragging some on the way back, PLUS the engine was overworking - meaning we were not getting much speed though the rpms were high. So I slowed it down to about 12 and we made it back to the harbor just fine. By the time we were halfway back to the marina, there was no visible seaweed drag out the back.

Then we entered the marina and all hell broke loose
We were just about to turn into our dock when we completely lost forward gear! Yikes!! It was fine, I went down to neutral and reverse, then when I shifted back to forward it WOULD NOT ENGAGE. As you can imagine this is extremely dangerous in the middle of a maneuver in the marina. Fortunately the harbor patrol was nearby, we flagged them down and they towed us safely to our dock before much damage was done to other boats. Boy I felt like an idiot!!

I've looked online and it seems a lot of people blame similar problems on the shift cable, but mine was just replaced.

As much of a nightmare as this outing turned into, I sure enjoyed the first part of it!! And I can't wait to get this fixed and get back out on the water.

Anybody have any ideas?

Oh man... sounds tough. Not sure about the shift cable theory, but words of advice:

When you feel like there's seaweed around the outdrive, put the boat in neutral, and give it short, strong blasts of reverse. This will spin the prop the opposite way (duh) and the counter-motion should get rid of any loose crap on the drive (seaweed). Then you should be okay. Maybe if you did not do this, that's what caused a problem with your shift cable; but I'm not sure about that one.

Anyway, Good luck.

Also, update your signature with your boat info/location... you'll get more helpful responses. :thumbsup:

I'm not in a slip. But...
Thats my big biggest fear, Other then losing power at sea and getting capsized.
Easing up on another boat at the Ramp. Then outdrive wont come out of forward or go into reverse.

Like the other member said. Weed may come out in reverse.
Also. You can shut the engine off. Trim the drive all the way up. From the swimstep untangle the prop.
I seem to have to do this once every time out :smt021
If you lost forward while the boat was in gear and moving. That could be bad. If you could not shift it into forward. Maybe the shift interrupt switch. Or a bunch of kelp is binding the little shift arm on the drive.

Without a signature. Who knows what drive you have :huh:

I had a similar stuck in reverse scenario a couple of summers ago, but without the weed. Mine turned out to be that the casing of the shift cable split down one side. Shifting into reverse puts the cable in tension and it worked fine. However, when I tried to shift to neutral or forward the inner cable "bellied" out of the split leaving the outdrive in reverse no matter where the shifter was positioned.

Should be pretty easy to check for this one.........good luck!

Cheers,

OK gang to those interested, here was the trouble:
In the lower unit of the outdrive (Alpha I), beneath the water pump assembly, a nut snapped. 9 hours of labor for the tow, hoist, disassembly of the lower unit, installation of new water pump assembly ($135), reassembly, and launch set me back $850. Service manager believes combination of 2 causes, 1 that the nut was stressed/ready to go, #2 I possibly didn't wait long enough for going into neutral in between forward and reverse shifts. I will now be much more conscious and very careful wait a bit longer to make sure the gear disengages and fully goes into neutral before shifting back. Thanks for everyone's input, and I will be updating my signature!! Hard to write this without being excited to go back out this weekend!