Hey guys, I'm looking at this boat and was woundering if someone might be able to tell me if its a good deal. It's a 38' 1984 Scarab with 454's and trs outdrives. The interior is about 5 years old and the paint looks awsome. It does have bottom paint and the corrosion on the outdrives is extensive. They are coroded through in some spots and this is a fresh water boat. I've never seen corrosion like this around here. The trailer looks like its in great shape. Any ideas what this thing is worth?

Worth whatever your willing to spend, but I wouldnt want wellcraft with that kind of corrosion, chances are the wood is rotted also.

The owner is asking 12k. Claims it was originally an "offshore" boat named "Trick or Treat" then sold and repowered with 454's. I poked around for soft spots and didn't find anything suspect but I didn't drill any holes. Everything appears solid. The transom assemblies and k planes don't appear to be corroded, it's just the outdrives and trim cylinders. I am trying to post some pics

U have to be a paying member to post pics or host from Photobucket or the like......Get an extensive survey

really the honest answer is probably from zero to $3,000.....I am sure there are plenty that might say that is crazy (especially the owner), but a boat that old that has been left to sit in the water until the outdrives corroded through has not been well taken care of

you really have to ask yourself what you are wanting to do and what YOUR skills are....TRS drives are no longer made so if you keep those drives you will be looking at used or rebuilt units especially since yours are probably scrap and of no use or value even for a few parts.....TRS drives are less popular now as well so if you keep with those drives you will be spending money to replace junked drives that were not taken care of with either used drives or rebuilt ones and they will be drives that are no longer popular if you ever go to resell.....so if you go through all that effort you might well consider changing drives......if you change drives you might need to do some transom work......you will PAY for that if you can't do it yourself

if the boat sat long enough the drives are rotted out what are the engines like.....I am of the belief that the higher performance something is the less it likes to sit up and the longer it sits up the worse it gets to get it back in shape.....and are you really going to go through the process of replacing the drives and doing so while attaching them to some engines you poured some marvel mystery oil in and turned over by hand before getting them "started" and "running".....to me that sounds like a great way to have a fun day blocking the ramps at the lake while you figure out what is wrong with your engines over and over or better yet a fun day of being towed back in (get a seatow or boat USA membership for sure)

so IMO you are looking at pulling the engines and having them looked over and freshened.....so now you are into the boat for new drives, and pretty serious engine work....or you are MAYBE very lucky or you are PROBABLY in for days of having issues with your engines.....on your boat with used or rebuilt drives

TRS drives need a transmission....see the engines above for likely scenarios....either have them gone through or most likely have issues....or MAYBE get lucky....so now you are in a boat with rebuilt or used drives and an engine and transmissions that either were gone through or you are gambling on.....make friends with seatow or boat US and tip the guys well for prompt service.....and remember you are talking about engines and transmissions on a boat that was taken care of so well the drives have rotted through

now we are to the hull, stringers, transom and on and on...sure maybe there are not issues there, but again this is a boat that was "taken care of" so well that the drives rotted off....and it has bottom paint so you KNOW it has sat around in the water and you KNOW it has sat in the water for long periods of time with little use.....and great paint and a 5 year old interior sounds to me like TURD POLISHING to gloss over the fact that there are major issues going on elsewhere

Interiors and paint do cost money and that is something people often underestimate when looking at the cost of mechanicals, but if there are structural issues that could make that interior something that at best needs to be removed and at worst does not fair so well upon removal

you have fuel tank issues both because of the simple age factor and more importantly because they are old fuel tanks in a boat that was taken care of so well that the drives have rotted off of it....so they will need to have some type of inspection done on them and when you are poking/drilling/scoping around looking for rot you need to be looking for fuel leaks and looking for tanks that are rotting because unless they have been replaced they are at best filled with crap and at worst rotted and need to be replaced

so if you want a boat that you can spend the next three years working on yourself, scouring the internet for great deals on quality rebuilt or used parts or even some new parts if available, you want to spend a lot of time and effort inspecting tanks and stringers and transom assemblies and the like and still not really being sure and you can do the work yourself and actually enjoy that kind of thing and if you have a white leisure suit and white shoes and some sort of loud electric colored undershirt to wear with it while reliving Miami Vice and that is just "your boat" then go for it and offer $3,000 or maybe if you really have cash to burn offer $5,000 and be prepared for the owner to want to fight and for you to see that boat sitting and rotting for the next 5 years until it is given away or scrapped

of if you are a Miami Vice addict and a gambling man and a tinkerer, but want be on the lake soon offer them $7,000 (way too much) slap the first set of used drives you find on it, change fluids, spin the engines by hand a few times, but some nice used batteries in it, buy a seatow and boat US membership, air up the tires and grease the axle bearings and top off the fuel tanks and go give her a ride on the lake....but please do so in late September early on a Tuesday or in early March late on Wednesday so you don't block the ramp for everyone else while you rant and throw tools everywhere.....or be prepared to just ride out onto the lake and anchor up where you stop and enjoy your day before you call for a tow back in

that boat has thousands and thousands and thousands that will have to be tossed at it and every additional thousand is most likely one you will never get back and the less thousands you try and throw at it more than likely will only up your frustrations with it

either buy it DIRT cheap, be prepared to do WORK to fix it including hunting up parts, be prepared to not use it for at least a season or two or be prepared to PAY AND PAY AND PAY for work to be done by someone else and still not use it for a season and to never get your money back when you sell it.....if not prepared for any of that then go buy one of the boats on here or listed many other places from someone that did all of that and has now moved on or grown tired of the last few thousand they will lose on the sale and buy theirs "cheap" and get on the water sooner

Best post ever!

sad post !!! but true... been there, done that!

Thanks texasvines! I have had experience with a soft transom before and always inspect them now before buying. I just didn't know what the thing would be worth assuming it only needed drives (even though they operate). The engines are 10 years old with just under 500 hours and run well. it looks to me like the drives were from a salt water boat when it was repowered in 2002. I thought i found a good price on a nice boat but it sounds like the boat isn't worth that much even if it didn't need anything.
Thanks for the advice.

Texas Vines has it pretty spot on as far as what you may be in for. Let me tell you about my little story with my Scarab. 8 years ago I knocked the ring lands out of 2 pistons in one motor. Was married at the time and did not have the extra cash to rebuild it at the time. Wrapped the boat up and stored it long term for about 7 years, Fast forward to being now divorced and having the money to finish rebuilding the engine and fixing the "little" things on the boat. I wound up spend about $7000 just on little things, new bilge pump, bilge blowers, raw water hose, dash switches, bilge paint, batteries, gimble boots, shifter/ throttle cables, trim cables, new MSD retard box (the cause of my blown up engine), rebuld the raw water pums with bearings and impellers. The list goes on and on and I'm still not satisfied, because I want the boat to be reliable and safe enough for SOMEONE else to pilot it. Me know how to tweak the switches and how to run the boat is one thing, but I want to make it idiot proof. If you have stumbled across a gem that needs a little bit of polishing, great. But be warned that old boats, especially mass produced ones like the Wellcrafts do have their problems. It may not seems apparent now if you just hear the engines run or go out for a quick test drive, but there will be plenty of hidden gremlins. Case in point is my Scarab has the old glass fuses. The clips that hold the fuses get loose and caused me to nearly rip my hair out. Nothing happened when the boat was sitting still, but once the boat stared bouncing, I was getting intermittent power. If anything have someone who has a few years experience with older boats and does some of their own work look at it with you. and don't believe a word when the seller say that something is an "easy fix". if it was so easy why didn't he do it?
PS post some pics at photobucket too, we all want to see what it looks like. Is it a flat deck or a raised deck?