Outboard Gear Changing Question

I have a 2004 Mercury Bigfoot 60 HP 2-stroke. I have owned it since new and other than a starter and solenoid last year I have had no issue with it.
This year has been different with some strange issues.
Just looking for some direction and will have a mechanic look at it but I hate not having an idea of whats happening.

3 major points that I think are relevent.

I almost always use the disengage button on the gear shift to start the engine to give it extra throttle. I then often just pull it back and when the button pops its in neutral. I noticed the last few weeks that it felt like it was slipping into forward gear versus neutral when the button popped.

Second, I was making a run to a spot I fish a lot and was doing maybe 3/4 max throtttle when the boat suddenly slowed down and felt almost like I had hit a clump of weeds or a tarp under the water. I actually tilted the engine right up to check if something was wrapped around the lower unit. after that it was fine.

Today I went out and only got about 200 yards from the dock and although I was going slow I felt like I had weeds all over the prop. I put it in reverse and the engine shut down. I then could not restart and the starter was stuck in the up position with the flywheel.

I had a spare solenoid at the cottage so I swapped it out quickly which released the starter and the motor fired right away but when I put the boat in reverse or forward it did nothing.
It felt like it wasn't even changing gears. I shut it down and worked the gear shift back and forth a few times and now its working again. Took it out for a run and did a dozen shifts to reverse/neutral and forward. Running like a top.

I am concerned now though of course an really would like to get a difinitive prognosis and repair by a mechanic.

Any input would be appreciated.

could be your clutch dog starting to wear, could also be in the forward control itself sometimes the plastic wears down in either the neutral disconnect or the shift lever itself, could be the cable from the control to the motor got some water in it and is starting to rust I'm not really familiar with mercs id definitely go see a mechanic wouldn't wanna get standed out on the lake did you have the lower unit off recently ?

Thanks Pandakiller,

The lower unit has never been off. I change the gear oil every year and have never had an issue. I am wondering if the cables are not fully working so it cannot shift properly and maybe with the one issue it slipped out of forward into neutral while at speed. Is there a maintenance routine I can do on the cables that I am not aware of? That's about all I can check as dropping a lower unit is beyond my capabilities.

If your cables are rusted and starting to seize you could force some atf/ oil through them with compressed air should get everything moving like it should
Or if really bad just replace ... if the lower hasn’t been off then it won’t be your shift rod they have to be aligned if out even 1mm it’ll do things like you described

Thanks Pandakiller, I really appreciate the feedback! Seriously, that's why i ask!

I do have an update which is a bit unique I think.

First off I had no desire to dig into this at this time but the mechanic said 2 weeks to drop by and have a look.

I pulled the prop at the advice of a buddy who works on boats.
The engine has a Flo-Torx ii hub on the prop and it appeared to be intact but had very slight rounding on the outside not the inside which would show if it had spun due to an impact.

I grabbed a new flow-torx ii kit from a local marina for $88.oo and installed it.

Just ran the lake wide out and so far it hasn't re-occurred.

Will run i tomorrow through trials and see how it goes.

MC

Lol funny that was my first thought and I was gonna mention it if the cable wasn’t rusty ... it’s only a few things that have those symptoms and I try to start with easy maintenance type stuff first if that doesn’t do it start at the prop and work your way up. Glad I could help