First post here but i just acquired a 18hp vanguard v twin long tail. It has a tach/hr meter on it and im wondering what rpms should i be idling at out of the water and whats the max rpms out of the water i should see. Just trying to get it fine tuned, i want it to be as reliable as possible and dont want to over rev the motor.

3600-3800 WOT in the water. Not sure about out of the water.

If you set it at 4,000 out of the water, you should be around 3700-3800 in the water.

ok right now it is 3700-3800 out of water , and idle is 1800 out of water. I think im going to give it a go like this and then try to tweak more rpms if i feel i need it. The motor is on a 1436 jon with pods on it.

That was my first motor, on the same size hull, brings back memories. The previous posts are correct; tweak the throttle if you need it. Was a reliable motor, the starter broke once but bolted a new one on. Does it have the push/depress starter on it? I still have the emergency hub to start it if the battery is run down- I bought it from Go-Devil and was able to start it a couple of times and was not left stranded. Back in 1990's I could have used some pods for extra flotation and to reduce backwash. Have fun!

Im not 100% sure i understand what a push starter is? It has electric turn key start and backup pull start. The starter looks like any old starter to me. But yes i hope it will be a blast all id be carrying is one other person, gear and my dog (60lb lab).

It was a 1986 model, there was no key, just a big button you depressed and held till the starter turned it over and that was it! Wish I would have had rope-pull start, much easier than that dang emergency hub. Too bad the 23 HP is apparently the biggest to come with a pull start. I hunted three hunters a few times and it was sheer luck we did not sink it, very little freeboard on that beat up, leaky French Settlement, La. jon! Had a 3 bladed prop for a while, but it was not weedless so I went with the 2 blade cupped style like today. Make sure your kill switch works!

The kill switch works good tested it many times. I think id be able to hunt three with this set up but only because of the pods, they are def a big improvment. Akmost like the weight of the motor isnt even there

Like I said, 3 was borderline tragedy. Go easy. The other thing I miss, back then I could hoist the motor by myself on/off, because off season I put on an outboard and that little hull did fly! Nowadays I call my nephews if I need to move my 27 Kohler.

Will do thanks for the help.