Right, I have spoken to the extremely helpful man at Vecta who said:
- The low rev/black smoke reversing problem is almost certainly the result of the prop blades not going into their correct position. In this case, it is likely to be the result of a lack of lubrication in the central boss (the silver ball). Having the boat on the hard over the winter is likely to make the situation more likely to occur and he commented that boats in continual use have less of an issue. In my case a relatively low powered engine (18hp) has made things worse as there isnt a lot of initial torque to get the blades over.
- Other possible reasons would be a too low idling speed (ie. lower than 850), a fault with the gearbox cable or clutch slip. Personally, I suspect it is the prop but will have a look at cable next weekend.
