Evinrude 175 hp FITCH ProblemHELP

"While out on the river yester

"While out on the river yesterday I was cruising approx. 40-45mph and all of the sudden I had lost all power(which I did)and came to a sudden halt. It felt like something slipped out of gear. Once the boat came to a stop on the river the engine continued to run but no power. I pulled back the throttle on my Crestliner to nuetral and proceeded to move the throttle forward to see if I could again get some power...nothing!
The engine will run but no power. I tried reverse and that did not help. I turned the engine off, waited for a few seconds, turned it back on, engine came on but again when putting the throttle forward there was no power. The prop did not turn either (but does move freely when I turn it and did when I had the kicker powering the boat)- obviously. It will not go into gear and feels to me as though I have a linkage issue...
Can anyone help explain to me what might be the problem?"

"As the gear wil not disengage

"As the gear wil not disengage itself when under load, I am afraid there might be a pinion failure in the gearbox. Major owerhaul."

"Thanks alot Morton...Ever hea

"Thanks alot Morton...Ever heard the saying, "No news is good news"?
Just kidding- was there anyway to prevent this from happening?
If in fact this is my problem, what type of cost to you anticipate to get this fixed? Any suggestions to the alternative?"

"Start by draining the oil off

"Start by draining the oil off the lower unit, that would probably give an indication. What may have caused it? might be several thingsil quality - the recomendation for that box is Ultra HPF, a synthetic oil, not normal Hi Vis. If You have hit a rock or similar and are running a SST propeller some time ago, that may be the reson. As for the cost I am not to familiar with Your part prices. Just hope that it is only the gears and the casing is not dammaged."