[JimG]

My '74 A4 sees very few hours, and over the last few years it has started slipping in both directions. The usage has dropped to probably less than an hour of running per year recently, due to health issues and competition from another boat in a weather friendlier port. Even when I used the boat weekly, the engine only ran long enough to get out of the slip and sometimes to get back in. It is a sailboat, after all.

In forward, if I go above 1/2 throttle it begins slipping, although I can remedy the problem by leaning on the shift lever pretty hard, beyond the normal detent. At first I thought it was cavitation, but that was wishful thinking.

In reverse, I've always had to lean on the shift lever to keep it engaged (which appeared to be standard) but I have to really lean on it to make progress at higher RPM.

I have a folding two bladed Martec on a 10,500lb Ranger 33.

I would open up the transmission to poke around with ring settings, but my exhaust system was cleverly laid out to obscure two of the bolts and block access without removal of the exhaust piping.

The shift linkage seems fluid, and there's no sign of movement of the connection to the shift lever.

As I start to imagine selling the boat, fixing the problem seems to be more important than it has been...