1988 Scarab Excel

[superwrench0166]

Opinons hates tell me what you like dislike how do you know wether it has the kevlar hull option i would assume that would be a hard find.

[Hot Boat]

Are you talking about the 28 excel ????

If so I love my boat , but it took a lot to make it in to something worth keeping.

You need at least 600 hp to get in to the 70's

you need to set the drive back and raise the X dimension if you want to get close to 80 mph

Make sure the stringers and bulkheads are not rotted. and check to make sure the hull is straight. dont be surprised to see stress cracks. Scarabs are known for them.



I hated the interior . I replaced mine. now everything in the boat is custom. Its hard to tell its a 1988 boat. you almost would not recognize it as an Excel.

I got rid of the bow & side rails and installed pop up cleats. Custom graphics, high back sit down seats, Gaffrig gauges. and all sorts of custom stuff from Trick Marine. Imco 2" shorter drive, Stern jack, external steering, 280 K planes....I could keep going on and on

The hull and deck have been bonded and through bolted. the wood stringers and bulkheads have been replaced with a composite material.

The boat is solid as a rock and loves rough water. Its a great single engine poker run boat that will hang with the big boats. You just have to work the throttles more.

I love what the boat is now. But it was a lot of work.

Some day I will get around to posting photos.

[Hot Boat]

Not a good photo.

[TomR]

I have had great luck with my 1988 28ft Excel. But as Paul mentioned the boat did take a lot of work. It was worth it! I think I lucked out when I got mine, the hull was fairly straight with very sharp edges on the transom and strakes. I have next to no stress cracks and I run the boat in choppy water all of the time. I did thru bolt the deck to the hull and added additional stringers in the engine compartment from the transom to the firewall between the larger main stringers as well as cross bracing. I felt the boat was pretty well built but I run a 550hp 502 and I do run it in rough water so I felt it would be good insurance to add the stringers.
I think because the hull I have is so good is the reason that I haven't had as much trouble making the boat run. I get a solid 75+mph on gps with 2 people in the boat and over a 1/2 tank fuel, running in the salt water with a little chop. The boat is stable and predictable and it flys nice.
I also redid a lot of the cockpit, new rear bench to dived 3 person bench and installed solid bases for the front seats as well.
I did away with stainless steele grills that were on the sides of the engine compartment and fabricated some real nice vents out of Corian. Filled the old holes and painted that whol area. I also added a scoop on the engine hatch. It's my little hot rod!!

[czy40p]

That is good to hear I just bought my first boat and it is a 1989 excel. Unfortunately a have more stress cracks than I realized when I bought it. What exactly is thru bolting the deck to the hull? As far as the stringers and the cross bracing were those just fabricated? What do you use?

[superwrench0166]

i would like to see some pics of what tom has done to his

[28SCARAB]

I have 89 28 Excel as TomR and Paul [Hot boat] said bond and bolt the deck to the hull. As far as the stringers go I have had no problems running a 540ci. at over 800hp.

[Scarab28]

28Scarab - what kind of speed are you getting with the 800 HP? What prop?

[28SCARAB]

Scarab28 We are running a true 30 bravo 1 at 6000 to 6100 rpm. done by Throttle UP . We use to use Hydromotive they seemed to work good to about 700hp.

[nauti-buoy]

has anyone fiberglassed and faired the bottom portion of the swim platform???? I am in the process of doing this and was wondering what you used in the seams.

oh by the way I have a 1988 scarab excel.