New to me scarab. Picking up this weekend.
 

I am picking up a 1989 scarab excel 28 this weekend anything I should know first when i hit the water. I am moving up from my wellcraft concept 23. Its Kevlar hull with drive moved back and Eddie marine trim tabs. I never had tabs so advice on how to use them would be Greatly appreciated.

pushing the trim tabs down (usually the button facing up) will push the bow of the boat down and get you on plane faster... you can also disburse uneven weight on the boat by pushing the trim tab with the excess weight down as well...this will cause that side to raise up...you can find that sweet spot at WOT with them by raising them all the way up and keep pressing them down as you gain speed...once you start to slow down, raise them back up a bit until you are at the point where your boat is moving the fastest....

I have limited experience with them as well but that is how it was explained to me....

Yep.
 

Perfectly written. I wouldn't own another boat w/o them. I even used to build mechanicels for my small ski boats that I set depending whether I was skiing or playing @ WFO or in the rough.

If you've not run a boat w/them before I'd start out w/them level w/the bottom and then get the boat up on plane and running before putzing with them. I'd assume they'll react fast similar to the Kiehaefer tabs so start out by just tapping the buttons and see how the boat reacts. There normally is a slight delay as well before the boat reacts to the change in tab position.
Take your time getting used to what they do and you'll learn to love them. As described above, they are huge for stabilizing boat side to side when passengers move around.
When I was selling boats I had customers that never used theirs because they'd never been taught how to use them and got scared when they tried and used way too much tab and got the boat squirley. Another tip too is that what the boat wants at 30 will be entirely different at 50 so you'll need to readjust as speed, condition, payload changes.
Another thing you'll be able to do w/this boat that you couldn't w/o the tabs is in nasty, head on conditions you can put your tabs way down which will help keep the boat on plane at a lower speed (reduces pounding) and also put/keep the bow down so the sharpest entry point of the hull hits the wave first which drastically reduces the shock load to the boat and passengers.
Congrats on the new ride. Should be a huge, positive jump from your previous boat. Keep us posted and you now owe us pix's ;)
Gary

Thank you so much for your wisdom i will try and load some pics if i can figure out how to do it i am not that great with computers. I will be taking it out tomorrow for the first time just to run it and get the feel of it before i start messing with things.

You can load your pictures on Photobucket.com then click on the link of the photo then post the pictures here.

You can make a Free account with Photobucket.

[IMG]http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/...-28_122255.jpg[/IMG]http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/...8_124909-1.jpg

[IMG]http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/...-28_122308.jpg[/IMG]

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1) WOW!! I dont think Ive ever seen an excel with the Miami Vice paint scheme! LOVE IT!!
2) Your boat looks brand new. Hard to believe its 24 years old! Congrats! Im seriously jealous!!

It's got 400 hours on it. Always stored in a heated garage and the guy waxed it after every use. It's all original and in great shape. Has new 502 with work done to it. Now if I can get some nice weather to take it out and run it.