2000 29 Fountain with 500efi and Bravo One. After putting the gear in neutral and shutting off when tying up or docking, when I go back to start the engine does not turnover despite getting battery reading. After some trial and error found that what must be a safety is preventing the engine from turning over. Even though the gear is in neutral, I sometimes have to put the gear in forward or reverse and then back to neutral in order to get it to turnover. It's as if the cable is loose and I have to pull it past neutral to get it all the way to deactivate the safety or is it something more serious than removing slack from the shift cable?

The neutral start switch is in the shifter. You can TEMPORARILY bypass the switch to see if that is your problem.

From what I've read, doing this without the engine running and therefore the drive stopped is a big no-no with a B1. I stand corrected if wrong but if it's true I'd refrain from said procedure or you may cause drive damage.

Definitely the nuetral safety switch not engaging.
Does your shifter have a detent where it clicks when in nuetral??? I'm guessing not.
Move the shifter a 1/4" forward or backward while turning the key. If it starts then the shift cable just needs adjusted.