transmission engage noise

[jeff-bateman]

greetings again:

My motor is the following, a yamaha "precision blend" 150 hp 2 stroke v6 outboard between 1990 to 1993 (not sure exact year).
when slowly shifting into gear from neutral / idle there is a noise of gears meshing (slight grind) together like as if a clutch in a car was not fully depressed before shifting into gear. other than that, once in gear motor runs smoothly and makes no noise when disengaging. is this normal? if not, any ideas?

thanks.
Jeff

[boats.net]

There is no clutch in outboard gearcases, it's direct contact between shifter and gears. When shifting into forward or reverse dont shift slowly, just quickly shift into gear with one motion to keep from damaging shifter.