Volvo Penta SXM sporadic forward engagement

I have a 2004 Glastron GS249 and I just got her into the water recently. Prior to that I had the drive off for the bellows and gimbal bearing replacement. I did that before I sea trialed because the bearing was severely toasted. I took a picture of where the threads and adjustment barrel were positioned before removal and counted the threads for reinstallation. Sometimes I have to just throttle up slightly and it engages but I don't want to mess anything up and it's a pain docking not knowing whether it will drop into forward or not. Reverse is like clockwork and perfect.

Could this be just an cable adjustment issue? I have the seloc and dont see much on adjustment of the shift cable. Do I just measure the throw distance from just in reverse to forward and half that is where the barrel is to be positioned? Should I be able to sit at the work rack on the hose and be able to shift easily into forward and reverse or does it need to be in the water (I'm thinking that wouldn't make a difference)?

Going to get her back on the work rack tomorrow and would really appreciate any tips or advice. Shift cable looks fairly new and PO told me it was changed not long ago. Please help if you can. Thanks in advance.

Turned the cable barrel in 3 rotations and she drops immediately into forward just in case anyone has the same scenario. Not sure whether the shift cable was OEM since the PO had it installed however you would think that barrel being mid way or somewhere close would be the answer however now it is adjusted to the extreme on one end of the cable threads. Reverse and forward engage immediately now. Thanks if you at least gave this a glance and I know this is such a grey area it's hard to advise on since so much can be wrong... however thankfully in this case it seems to have been just an adjustment issue.

Adjusted the wearing out cable.

That's what I get for taking the PO's word for it... new cable... yep... or like I mentioned new and not the right one... cause it did look new...ish.