B100L will not start unless it's in forward gear

Hey group, my Father gave me and my son a boat with a Honda B100L engine. The engine runs great and is as clean as a whistle. My Father said that it would not start unless the gear selector was in forward. Sure enough he was correct. I pulled on it for three or four pulls with nothing. I pulled the shifter into forward, one more pull and it purrs like a kitten. Any idea what might cause this. Is this the way it's suppose to work? Does the cover need to be on? Does it need an adjustment? Any help would be appreciated
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Thank you
Vance
Post Falls, Idaho

Hi Vance,
Your issue is likely due to the neutral safety switch being out of adjustment. If you pull the hood off and look inside the case it will be mounted on the shaft that your shift lever is attached to. It is a piece of metal that looks like a "Y" that is clamped to the shaft. The "ears" of the Y rotate through a slot in the switch itself. The switch consists of a set of contacts on one side of the slot and a magnet on the other side. When the outboard is in gear, the ears are meant to rotate into position and block the magnetic field from closing the switch. It's a strange contraption but actually pretty simple and is probably just loose and out of alignment.
Good luck.