Boat Goes Forward When Put In Reverse

[andrew399]

Hey raiders, I took my boat out today for the first time in about 2 months due to uni exams and stuff. When i went to put it in reverse gear it was a bit to 'sticky' so i forced it a bit. Anyways. went into reverse but all it did was rev heaps and not move. So i just push off from the pontoon and put it in forward and drive for a bit, stop, put it in reverse and now all of a sudden the boat goes forward when in reverse!! Oh well i decide to continue as i have no idea what causes it.

Trolled for about an hour then pulled up to have a fish for some bream. Then i when i start the engine to leave neutral doesnt work and is now also going forward at about 700 revs... I couldnt get it back in neutral and even on the muffs at home it was in gear. I cant turn the prop by hand either. Everything was working fine 2 months ago when i used it last, what has happened? How do i fix it? Is it going to be expensive (i really hope not!!) and is there any risk of damage to the engine if i keep using it with no neutral or reverse, i imagine cold start in gear is not the best thing for it...

Thanks for any feedback!

[Littledinghy]

Hi Dicko,

Seems to me that's a job for the expert, I had a similar situation not long ago, I thought I could fix the problem, after spending three days trying to fix it I gave up. I rang the expert , Huey, and bingo he fixed it in no time. And I was expecting a huge bill for it but no, as if I am a long lost friend, giving me all the discount he can give. My advise is take it to Huett Marine, they are the expert.

Littledinghy

[prawn*]

try taking the couling of your engine and there should be a pin for your gear to engauge into the flywheel it could be that your flywheel has slightly moved accross the pin so it wont engauge

if this is the case try turning the wheel (not running ) and try changing into gear ive had this problem before with one of my older boats it used to stay in forward only i just adjusted it to catch the gear pin and never gave me any more greif

hope this helps

[river_kid]

sounds to me like your gear shift cable has snapped or something similar. take your cowling off and watch when you change between foward and reverese if you only see the throttle cable move then its your gear shift cable.

cheers river_kid

[chrisg]

What motor for a start? Shift mechanisms all vary slightly.

C.

[andrew399]

Its a 2002 50hp oil injected Yamaha. I took the top off and it seems to me (limited knowledge!) that it is still shifting and not just revving... Any chance it could be the gear box? or would it not even go forward if that was the issue? Il give huey a ring, hopefully its just the shift cable so it wont hurt the pocket too much! I need it done quick though cos im meant to be heading down to lake conjola next week to chase down some of those massive tailor!

[Fester]

May have broken a piece in the control box, they work on a cam system, if a piece breaks in there then all sorts of funny things can happen.

[a boat]

Hi dicko, what you can do at home to confirm where the issue maybe is to disconnect the control cables from the outboard and see how free it is then to move the control box into and out of gear. If free and the engine ends of the control cable go back and forth I doubt it is a problem in the control box/cables. That confrim then by hand control the gearshift in the engine while spinning the prop to allow the gear to engage and see what then happens. It should go from neutral to forward or reverse and then you will not be able tot tunr the prop by hand. If not the propblem is in the engine.

Give me a call if you do not understand or better yet make a booking and we could look at it next week and see what is going on.

Cheers,

Huey.