Finally pulled the trigger and bought a 2006 mud buddy 35 vanguard on a 18' gatortail boat. It has been great so far and I have really enjoyed it. I am having a couple of minor problems though.
The motor fires right up out of the water - once its warm you can just turn the key to restart. In the water it does not want to start as easily. You have to play with the gas, throttle, and key in order to get it to start every time and will also kill if left at idle in the water. When I got the motor I changed the oil, put new plugs and cleaned the carb . The motor has 102 hours on it and it has a BPS exhaust. Whats the problem? Runs like a top out of the water. Thanks in advance.

06 Sport with clutch, right? Stock carb? What rpm at idle? When you say it won't idle in the water, do you mean in neutral, or in gear? If it won't run with a load on the motor (in water, in gear), then there are a few things to look at. Give us a lil more info.

The motor does not have neutral. The idle runs between 1100 to 1200 rpm out of the water. I think the carb is stock. When you lay off of the throttle and just want to slowly idle it will kill. It seems to act up if the prop has resistance on it. It will sit on the trailer and run perfect. It makes it harder for me to identify the problem since i cant duplicate it in my garage.

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Pull the carb cover & front shield off to expose the intake & carb. Take some brake parts cleaner or carb cleaner & spray all the joints on the intake, from one end to the other, with the engine running. If it idles up, then you have an intake leak at that point.

If not, it could possibly be the diodes on the coils. To check that, you'll need to disconnect them. The easiest way is to unplug them & run the motor with a load. Problem is, you won't be able to shut off the motor with the diodes disconnected. Another option would be to cut the diode wire near the starter & use a butt connector to repair it if it's not the problem. By doing this, you can touch the wires back together to shut off the motor.

Another possibilty is a bad oil pressure sensor. Simply unplug it to test that.

All these would be only after insuring you have good fuel flow & no air leaks in the fuel line from the tank back. Check the connections to the tank, fuel filter, air filter, etc.

Stock carbs don't want to idle in the water at all. Don't over think this.

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And without neutral you should pick the prop up out of the water to start the motor.

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Everything sounds normal to me.

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start it with the prop out of the water as OD said.

If it still wants to die when you put the prop in the water, try adjusting this spring (Governed Idle spring- it will set the low point the governor plate will drop the idle):

Sounds like the idle jets in the carb are varnished up. We've been making a small fortune lately doing carb jobs, with the fact that this ethanol gas evaporates within a couple days of laying up a motor in this summer heat.

I would remove the carburetor and inspect the inside to see if you can see thru all the jets.

X2 on what the BoatDR said. My old motor was doing the exact same thing. It turned out to be the carb. I was lucky and got a new one for cheap and just replaced the whole carb. It idled great after that and ran like a champ.

I appreciate all the help. I am going to work on it a little bit tonight. Maybe the carb just needed a more thorough cleaning. I will try that then go from there. I have been lifting it out of the water to start but about 1/2'' to 1'' still are in the water even with it tilted all the way. Could it be a belt tesion issue? I thought maybe the belt might be loose combined with resistance on the prop might pose a problem. Im new to all of this hopefully that makes some sort of sense. I plan on checking that anyway. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

When you clean your carb, concentrate on the set of little holes in the top of the throat- they affect idle.