It was in an emergency situation that i discovered that I did not have a neutral switch.
Brand new to me boat on our maiden voyage from Rochester, NY where we bought it to Mystic, CT our home port.
Going thru the Harlem river against a 4 knot current i lost power. Fuel starvation which ultimately was MY doing, and as we were being pushed backward my second anchor hooked up.
So i switch Racors ( dual element system) and no start.
I bleed the system, turn over, no start.
Wife ( on deck) yells “ we’re dragging” I go on n deck and boat is going backward but stops. Anchor holds. I think to myself WTF, then see that the tranny was still in forward.When it was turning over the prop was spinning pushing us forward slowly.
I put it in neutral NOW the engine turns over just a tad faster and now can start.
Theres more to the story BUT if i had a neutral safety switch the engine would not havebturned over and i would have immediately known it was in gear.