After the incident I have previously written about,(Loss of power with black smoke), I called the boats previous owner. He was kind enough to tell me that this has happened to him before under similar circumstances. He said that each time it happened he would return to the boat the next day and the engine would run great. A couple of days later I returned to the boat and indeed the engine was running great. Its like the thing just got tired or somthing. Since this incident I have found that proper cruising rpms is 2500 to 2700 for this engine. We have taken several trips operating at 2700 rpms since and no problems have surfaced. The next time it acts up I will take your advice and check the compression levers and see if I have a cylinder out. Thanks for everyones comments. I will keep everyone posted. Thanks Gordon.