The first thing I would do-see if your overproped. You should be able to obtain the same rpm's in neutral as you get in foward. If you don't get atleast close this suggests too much prop. I don't know you dia- but think factory was 15. I think most pitch at 9or 10. Also your tach may not be properly calibrated-that other can explain far better than me. Used to be a bunch of info on these topcis in the achives-not sure we can still access them on the new site.

Sounds to me like you may be blowing carbon build-up out if the cylinders. If the previous owner never really opened up the throttle, it can have a tendency to build up, and in that case the smoke is not a bad thing at all. In fact IF that is what is causing the smoke, the best thing to do is keep it in neutral at the dock, and open her up for a few minutes. Eventually the smoke will clear and your engine will be better off. (Happened to my last boat).

Butch,
As was already mentioned, the first thing you should do is check the accuracy of your tach. My guess is that your tach is WAY off. Tachometers in all boats (not just Catalinas) are notorious for being off. It's the job of the selling dealership to calibrate it as part of the pre-delivery checklist, but the job is often overlooked. The Association has a digital optical tach in Tom's Tool Box, which can be borrowed by any member for just the cost of postage. It's a five minute job with that optical tach. Once you know your tach is accurate, you can check the pitch of the prop. The M35A should reach 3200 RPM in neutral, WOT. With a clean bottom, clean prop, you should be able to reach 95% of that in gear at WOT. My second guess is that your pitch has been set too high. There should be no black soot (or very little) at WOT. Decrease the pitch until you can reach 3000-3100 at WOT in gear. This is one type of test you should not do at the dock. You should get out in the open water for the RPM testing in gear. Hope this helps.

Spanki:

I was just going over my notes on my 15 inch 3 blade max prop and I have it set for 16 Deg. The first time I set it I had it pitched for 20 deg. I could only attain 2500 rpm. What I know and have found out is that every 2 deg's of pitch changes the rpm with the boat going the same speed by 13 % So I have mine pitched at 16 deg and I am just short of getting 3200 rpm at wto in neutral and in froward . This says it is pitched right.

Your tach is probably a teleflex tachometer/hourmeter high frequency(1200 to 19,993 hz) If you go [url]http://www.downloadingfiles.co.uk/teleflexfiles/library/instructionmanua...

This will explain how to calibrate it, It takes some reading and time to do. Like Tom says you need to know what crankshaft is turning by using the digital tach, then comparing it to what you see.

Randy

FYI, the pitch is usually described in "Inches" and represents the theoretical linear movement if the "screw" were turned in something like Jello with no slippage.

So if the tachometer is off, how would one adjust it???

Larry:

I think if you go back and search on posting I have done on here. I think there is a link to the web site that tells how to adjust the tach. If not I will get you the info.

Randy