Westerly Centaur Gearbox removal

[shouldhaveboughtahouse]

Evening all

I've got a Westerly Centaur with an old Penta MD7a and recently she's stopped going into forward gear. If I drop her into reverse first and then into forwards she'll sometimes go, and if I shift into forwards and push the revs a bit higher she'll quiter often engage but I am aware this is horrendous for all mechanincal parts involved.. I'm told it's most likely wear on the gearbox (goes into reverse no probs) and I'm fairly sure its not cable stretch.
My first question is - do you think this is a sound diagnosis?
Secondly, regarding removing the gearbox - I REALLY do not want to have her lifted out for this. Has anyone removed a gearbox from a westerly whilst afloat? I'm aware it is fairly common practice on other boats but wanted to be aware of any potential pitfalls (like sinking!). Is it a relatively straightforward procedure?

Many thanks in advance

 

[Boater Sam]

First.

Disconnect the gear cable at the gearbox end and shift the lever on the box by hand to eliminate cable problems. If it still does not engage in forward, fix the gearbox.

 

[Graham376]

I can't remember any problems removing the gearbox. IIRC, those old gearboxes are fitted with a cone clutch, are replacement clutches still available or does anyone reline them these days?

 

[mogmog2]

Evening all

I've got a Westerly Centaur with an old Penta MD7a and recently she's stopped going into forward gear. If I drop her into reverse first and then into forwards she'll sometimes go, and if I shift into forwards and push the revs a bit higher she'll quiter often engage but I am aware this is horrendous for all mechanincal parts involved.. I'm told it's most likely wear on the gearbox (goes into reverse no probs) and I'm fairly sure its not cable stretch.
My first question is - do you think this is a sound diagnosis?
Secondly, regarding removing the gearbox - I REALLY do not want to have her lifted out for this. Has anyone removed a gearbox from a westerly whilst afloat? I'm aware it is fairly common practice on other boats but wanted to be aware of any potential pitfalls (like sinking!). Is it a relatively straightforward procedure?

Many thanks in advance

We had an MD2B in ours, with with possibly the same gearbox (MS Reverse Gear or whatever they called it).
I removed ours afloat and it gives you nit only the opportunity to do ninja level boat yoga, but strength training at the same time .
The prop shaft will slide back far enough (the rudder stops it from falling out ). Getting the coupling off may be fun but mine yielded quite easily.
If it's similar, there were 8 (or thereabouts) hex socket screws, some ...less accessible than others. I needed a long socket extension on the bottom ones (that you can't really see).
I had to remove the gear linkage mount and possibly the water pump or something related to it (it was about 7 years ago...).
It's a heavy beast to be manoeuvring at arms length and I used a bit of manky rope attached to the mainsheet for assistance.
Getting it back was a bit harder as things need to be aligned - some of those air pillow lifter thingies would probably be excellent.
Check the rubber spider whilst you're in there - mine had started to disintegrate but it just easily slides off.

 

[shouldhaveboughtahouse]

We had an MD2B in ours, with with possibly the same gearbox (MS Reverse Gear or whatever they called it).
I removed ours afloat and it gives you nit only the opportunity to do ninja level boat yoga, but strength training at the same time .
The prop shaft will slide back far enough (the rudder stops it from falling out ). Getting the coupling off may be fun but mine yielded quite easily.
If it's similar, there were 8 (or thereabouts) hex socket screws, some ...less accessible than others. I needed a long socket extension on the bottom ones (that you can't really see).
I had to remove the gear linkage mount and possibly the water pump or something related to it (it was about 7 years ago...).
It's a heavy beast to be manoeuvring at arms length and I used a bit of manky rope attached to the mainsheet for assistance.
Getting it back was a bit harder as things need to be aligned - some of those air pillow lifter thingies would probably be excellent.
Check the rubber spider whilst you're in there - mine had started to disintegrate but it just easily slides off.View attachment 206939

Fantastic thank you so much.
And yeh, I'm a black belt in engine bay yoga