Transmission woes

[sailrmon]

Coming into Solomans island Maryland yesterday my wife and i began having some transmission problems. when we shifted into forward it would not engage, then after several seconds 10-30 it would. after it engaged it was fine at higher RPMs but back at idle it would frequently disengage..as if it were slipping. I went below and put it in forward manually and had the same results. couple of weeks ago we noticed a strange noise like a knock that would cause rough idling, i did go below to inspect the prop (we have an Autoprop) thinkink maybe we had caught a line or something, it was clean and operating freely. I shifted the transmission into forward (with the engine shut down) went below and disconeccted the shifting cable to make sure the shifting arm on the transmission was traveling the full limit and not just partially engaging..it was. everything is fine in reverse

We moved aboard last July and are currently heading south.

We have a Yanmar 4JH2E with a Kanzaki-KM4A transmission.
I'm really stumped on this one, any advise would be appreciated. or a recommendation on a mechanic.

currently anchored next to Zanhieser's marina, Solomans is

Bill
S/V Wendy Michelle

[k1vsk]

might be the damper plate

[dshafer45]

have a 4JH2TE Yanmar with a Hurth transmission...don't know if it's the same as yours, but had the clutch burn out a few years ago (8 years old); $2000 later!, it has worked fine for the last 7 years. Your trans fluid will look dark and burned (instead of pink) if the clutch is slipping. Used Bay Shore Marine, Annapolis, 410-263-8370; don't know if they're still in business.