Engine - transmission

[DuncanMcMillan]

One more failure on our Hurth transmission. This is the second of the summer and one of many since we got the boat new in 2004. Either we got a lemon or it's a poor piece of engineering.
Transmission goes into reverse no problem to allow us to back out of the dock and then, voila, no forward thrust so we continue to slowly back up in neutral. Just as it's getting exciting and after a few pushes back and forth from neutral to forward it finally bites and off we go. Getting out of the dock is not my wife's favourite part of the sail and on this one I have to concede.
Liquid level was good and linkage good.
It will come out again for disassembly and inspection so no doubt we will have all the questions about whether I was abusing it in the 10 hours of sailing since it was last repaired.
At this point i'm looking for options that will solve the issue long term. A brand new duplicate Hurth transmission does not inspire any confidence. I believe Universal (Westerbeke) have changed suppliers(for whatever reason) but I'm not sure if that model can be installed without significant mods to engine mounts etc.
Has anyone tackled this conversion?