No no. Look behind the engine, in front of the transom plate, inside the boat. You can see that shaft coming off the back of the motor... It best be turning while the engine is running.
FYI, you don't have to be in gear. The "transmission" is in the drive, so that shaft has to be turning all the time.

I still think you have a prop issue.
A friend had this prop thing happen on his Formula. It would slip after a little running, but tighten up when it had a chance to cool.
Swap props with an unsuspecting buddy. Then your boat will be fixed..

Yea, I get ya. The shaft spins just fine. The day it happened I talked to a few people that said it was going to be the drive coupler if it wasn't the prop. The prop looked good so must be the coupler. I could always make the boat move. After 1000-1200 RPM the RPM would spin way up. Like you were driving your car with the clutch 1/2 way in. I have since ran the boat for 1/2 and hour and had no problem. I think your right. I had/Have some type of prop issue. Thanks for your help.

Gene Bopp

I'd say there was something on your prop like a plastic bag. Once I had a boat do that and when I lifted the drive, there was a 5 gallon bucket that was completely around the drive as if I were flushing it in the bucket.

A coupler will hold more after it cools off and the rubber solidifies again, but I don't think that is your problem.

Props are easy to take care of. Be glad you don't have to pull the motor to repair the coupler...

Psst... don't tell anyone, but one time I launched the boat forgetting to remove the muffs from the drive. . Acted just like spun prop or coupler. Boy was I happy when I saw what I had done.

BT

I don't know what my problem was. I ran the engine for 6 hours without turning it off. The last hour in the ocean at 35 mph the whole time. The advise I got here fixed my temperature problem and helped relive my worries about the coupler. Thanks guys.........!!

Gene

Good to hear that you feel that your boat is OK.
Now..
We have to help you do a bit better than 35MPH in the Ocean...
Let's hear what kind of boat you have, and how it's set up...

Or you can just do like others... and strech it a bit.
So you were running 55 in the ocean...

See, that sounds better.

Not to put words in Tim's mouth, but I think he meant to say 55mph at cruise speed.

BT

55 huh? I think it will go that fast. But today it would have been a little uncomfortable. Today was the first time this thing really behaved itself. I had it up to 50 for a while. The ride sucked. I have a 1990 Baja 250 ES, 7.4, bravo 1 and a 23 prop. The fastest I have ever seen it go was 52 (GPS) at 3800 RPM. I didn't really have time to trim it out before slowing down. I have been doing stuff to it that makes it run. Like you said maybe now it is time to make it run better.

Gene