Shifting into Reverse Question

"What a surprise! For Mother&

"What a surprise! For Mother's Day my husband bought us a brand new Tohatsu 9.8 motor for our sailboat. He bought it online and we set it up last night on a sawhorse to check it out. While shifting through the forward-neutral-reverse gears, I noticed that there is definite click with over an inch of movement between forward and neutral settings, but only about a quarter inch of momentum between neutral and reverse. Is this normal? It seems to me there should be the same amount of distance between neutral and reverse as there is between neutral and forward. Is there something I'm missing? We've read the owner's manual twice, but I can't find anything about this. I would think it might be hard to distinquish between neutral and reverse with so little play. My husband wants to get the motor on the boat and in the water before trying it out, but I prefer to get these nagging questions answered BEFORE we do that."

"Sorry, I got it backwards - t

"Sorry, I got it backwards - there's about a quarter inch of movement between neutral and forward and an inch of movement between reverse and neutral. Seems to me it would be way too easy to go directly from reverse to forward with this little bit of play."

The engine is NOT designed to

The engine is NOT designed to be shifted unless it is running. Don't worry about anything until after you try it in the water.

"Thanks, Tohatsu Guru. That p

"Thanks, Tohatsu Guru. That puts my mind at ease. Now a second question: My battery is in a lazarette. The factory cable on the motor is too short to connect it directly to the battery. I'd like to install a cable from the battery under the cockpit seats and aft to the transom (maybe above the where the gas tank sits on the deck?) where I can just "plug" in the motor. What kind of connector do I need and where can I find one. I'm capable of installing it myself. I tried West Marine and Jamestown Dist, but am stumped."

We don't recommend extendi

We don't recommend extending cables as the joint becomes a weak point where electrical resistance will build up....I would suggest replacing them. A cheap pair of jumper cables will provide you with the wire and soldering lugs onto it isn't hard.

"Thank you! I posted this sam

"Thank you! I posted this same question at my favorite sailing blog, Sailboatowners.com. I received more advice and recommendations than I could digest, but the jumper cables seem to be the answer. One blogger recommended the same, but said he increased the gauge of the cable to make up for the increased length. Do you think this is necessary? I think 12' will do it just fine, but I don't want to jeopardize the motor or alternator."

Sort of...The average set of j

Sort of...The average set of jumper cables are 6 or 4 gauge. I think the Tohatsu standard cables are 8s.