Ok, yes an older overweight sailor can lay on his belly over the top of the frame for the engine cover with his feet on the nav table, head down below the top of the engine, blood rushing to the brain and successfully remove the cotter pin with one hand to detach the shift cable from the shift lever at the transmission. Whew! Process of elimination, the shift lever worked back and forth through forward, neutral, reverse and such with finger pressure only. So, no transmission problems. I hired a fellow 35-3 owner (cost me a couple beers) to work the shifter from the helm and no binding/friction detected. But it was a bit stiff. Next the binacle. Learning quickly that stainless steel bolts into aluminum like to seize. Finally (with penatrating oil) was able to remove the 4 bolts that attach the compass housing to the top ring of the pedestal without breaking them. Wanted to remove the ring on the top of the pedestal (another 4 big bolts) got all but 1 bolt loose. Started to run out of time so I just sprayed the penatrating oil on the cable where it slides into the red cover and worked the shifter back and forth about a zillion times and it freed up considerably. Quick fix this is, but with huge success. With more time, I plan to drill out the stuck bolt and therefore get access to the top of the cable and try the M/C throttle cable lube kit program. I think this will be the fix. If not I can remove the cable, order a new one and replace.
Thanks again for all the help on this.