I wouldn't be too concerned. I've never had one apart, but I'd assume there is a sprag clutch which freewheels in one direction and locks in the other. It would freewheel while sailing in forward, but lock if the engine was engaged. It runs in oil so has lubrication, but not designed to freewheel forever. Hour and a half wouldn't concern me too much.

Drain & fill gear box oil ASAP... Leaving in forward causes plate slippage and can shed metal into the oil. The gear is splash lubed so the metal quickly goes to work on the thrust bearing..

Mainsail; would that be ferrous metal filings? Is there a magnet in the drain plug to collect them? I don't believe there's one in the end of the dipstick.?

[QUOTE=breitz;22012]MAINE SAIL thanks for your response. As I'm an absentee owner I usually have my mechanic do my necessary work and maintenance. If after 1 1/2 hours of sailing in this manner do you feel I've done real harm to the gears. I motored after discovering what I had done for about 1 hour. Also when I fired up the motor it was in fwd. I heard and felt nothing out of the ordinary. Went to neutral back to fwd and rev when docking no problem. But I digress. Thanks for you input. Bill[/QUOTE]

You will have definitely put some metal into the ATF. This is what happens when you don't change the gear oil.. This is a worn thrust bearing due to lack of charging gear box fluid. At a bare minimum this should be done yearly with a Hurth/ZF box. If you forget and left it in forward, quickly there after..

[IMG]http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/image/128333710.jpg[/IMG]

ATF = CHEAP
GEAR REBUILD = EXPENSIVE......