Outdrive problems

"2007 bayliner 185 with a 3.0

"2007 bayliner 185 with a 3.0 merc i/o on it...
had the out drive replaced 2 summers ago with a refurbished drive, as there was damage done to the original one from hitting a rock.
anyways, was out this aft going along about 35 mph, when all of a sudden my rpms wound right up, and it sounded like the prop came out of the water (which i dont think it did, water was relatively calm).
so I throttled back to neutral right away, thinking i had somehow blown the hub on the prop. so i took the prop off, checked it out, everything was in tact. the boat no longer will "clunk" into gear, (forward or reverse), and it just winds up like its in neutral all the time.
any ideas what this could be? got it towed back to the marina, and pulled out. I'm hoping its not the enginer coupler, and with it only being the third season in the water, i dont think it would fail that soon. The throttle linkage works fine, all looks well in the engine bay...
keep in mind the outdrive is a refurbished model. Alpha One i believe.
thoughts?"

Did the engine temp. rise? Yo

Did the engine temp. rise? You can see the OD shaft spin where it connects to the coupler w/engine running to rule it out.

"Run it on a hose in the drive

"Run it on a hose in the driveway checking as Guy suggests, you'll need to look down at the back of the engine, if it spins then, I would check the lower oil, if it's good and there isn't any metal on the bottom plug then you'll want to replve the top cover of the drive and take a look inside, you could have stripped out the drive gear in the upper?"

"i could see the driveshaft fr

"i could see the driveshaft from the engine spinning, i didnt have a light or anything to check and see further back to where it meets the coupler.
I didnt notice the enginer temp rise at all, i usualy keep a close eye on all my gauges every couple minutes.
The boat is sitting on a dry dock at the marina now, i'll have to get it put on the trailer soon to get it back to my place to check things out.
provided it isnt the engine coupler, and its some gears in the outdrive, how much $$ / time would I be looking at to get it repaired?"

"Well, 2 ways you can do it, b

"Well, 2 ways you can do it, buy a complete replacement outdrive from http://www.sterndrive.cc/, seems to get good reviews here, or have yours rebuilt, now depending on how bad yours is, it will cost the same or more than a new unit from SEI (Stern Drive Engineering) and I believe if there is damage that the entire drive including the lower be completely dissasembled, fully inspected, cleaned and all new gaskets and seals.

Now, if you have boat insureance, they could pay for the replacement, you would have to check.

My nephew had a coupler go on his boat, had a burnt rubber smell but could limp home, but it was a light boat 17'.

It could still be the coupler, before you bring it home, drop the back end in the water, drop the drive run it in gear at more idle and check the shaft again, see if it spins.

another check is with the boat on the trailer and engine off, put the shifter in gear (F then R) and try the prop, Fwd will lock counter-clockwise and Rev will lock clockwise. If it doesn't then it's a lower unit proplem, if it does and you can turn the drive with it in gear, then it's a upper problem. (hope that's all correct, unable to sleep)"