|
79 Scarab 300 resto
Hi guys, long time lurker, first time poster. I've had the itch for a scarab for a long time, and finally scratched it a few weeks ago. I sold my cabin cruiser and was looking hi and lo, near and far for a scarab, and found one. About 1300 miles round trip to the lake of the ozarks, mo. I felt like I got a good deal on the boat. 7k for the boat and trailer. It's a pretty original 79 scarab 300 with the 330 454's. The boat came with an extra low profile windshield (off a sport model?), original swim deck (not on the boat because the thru hull exhaust is in the way). The trailer has surge brakes that work good. I'm happy with the deal I got. I thought I'll be ok even if the stringers and transom are shot.
http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...814_163539.jpg http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...815_154531.jpg http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...815_154655.jpg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S_KS...iXxwInZZ6D0nSw |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S_KS...iXxwInZZ6D0nSw
The boat runs great, we put it in the water twice about three weeks ago, ran 55mph, and decided to go ahead and get started on the paint work. Upon further inspection, we saw she needed a transom. and a rear bulkhead, then the killer, the rot traveled up the stringers to the bow of the boat. We've decided we have to repair this. No way way we can leave it like it is. So tonight we're seeing about pulling the deck off the boat. Here's some photos of where we are... http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...hoto%20(3).JPG http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...hoto%20(2).JPG http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...hoto%20(4).JPG http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...hoto%20(6).JPG http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...hoto%20(7).JPG |
This ought to be good, I had better pay attention to this thread as with my luck I will be in the same boat(no pun intended). Randy
|
oohh! lots of good work ahead!
post plenty of pictures!!! |
We got the deck off tonight. Looks like lower part is going to be more work. It is glassed and tabbed in places. I can see why these boats are so heavy. The deck probably weighs 600-800 lbs. i'll post some photos tomorrow.
|
We cut the rear part of the deck off to start with to repair this rot that started around the cleats. This was before we new the whole deck was coming off...
http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...hoto%20(8).JPG Here's the bulkhead. The inner and possibly the outer stringers were stapled to this. So when the bulkhead got wet, and there was enough time, it soaked all the way to the front. The left inner stringer sounds hollow as far forward as I could tap on it. The right inner didn't go as far. And the two outer ones are (only) about halfway rotten.... http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...hoto%20(9).JPG Getting the cap ready to come off... http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...oto%20(10).JPG Coming off... http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...oto%20(12).JPG We found this on the back of one of the cockpit cushions, "show boat"... http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...oto%20(11).JPG |
The boat I got is the same as this one in an add somebody posted in this forum a while back. Mine had a different bow rail. Everything else was the same.
http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...bfe[1].jpg http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...6db[1].jpg |
The Scarab 300 what a cool looking boat that you have. I've heard of the model but haven't seen what it looks like till now. That's awesome to see a brochure of the Scarab 300.
|
We were finally able to do some more work thursday evening and today. We got the "tub" (what weve been calling it) out. Again, another very heavy piece. It was bonded behind the rub rail and also in the front lower part of the engine compartment. I used a circular saw set at about 1" depth and cut around the sides (behind the rubrails) and used an air saw with a wood blade in it to cut the glass bonding strips in the engine compartment...
http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%.../photo%201.JPG http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%.../photo%202.JPG http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%.../photo%203.JPG |
wow i had to replace the whole stern stringers and transom on my 86 30 panther.
|
somekind of an inner liner you can take off from the hull?
That's weird is'nt it? never seen this before! and I restored 3 boat, splitting the deck from hull like you did... |
Wow, what a job! I'll be watching.
|
Are you going to rebuild the whole liner or just the stringers & bulkheads? I would be interested in some patterns if you are pulling the liner apart. Randy
|
Every bit of the liner or "tub" as we have been calling it is rock solid. No rot anywhere. Where the seats bolt down is rock solid. It's all in great shape as far as rot goes. Now we did some minor damage around the edges here and there removing it. It'll be no big deal to fix when putting together.
This boats in really great shape to be 34 yrs old. I believe it spent it's whole life in missouri. The guy I bought it from was taking real good care of it. But it's age just caught up with it. Like some have said on this board, these older boats have to spend their lives under a roof to have any hope of no rot. This boat got all it's rot from the engine comparment. It traveled up the stringers from there, and there was just no way to repair it without taking the boat apart. I wish we'd have known we were going to pull the deck off before I decided to the back part of the deck off to replce the transom. At that point we thought all we were replacing was the transom. Oh well, a little more work to do. We got the gas tank out last night. It's in great shape and reusable. These things are an experience to remove. If the stringers weren't rotten it woulda been really tough. We were able to use a porta power to spread the stringers apart and break the foam out. We cut the front bulkhead out so we could get under the tank with some prybars. I'll try to post some photos tomorrow |
Originally Posted by jeff32
(Post 4022362)
somekind of an inner liner you can take off from the hull?
That's weird is'nt it? never seen this before! and I restored 3 boat, splitting the deck from hull like you did... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...e/ee811a80.jpg |
Nice looking engine compartment phragle. The liner really cleans it up a lot huh?
Here's what it looks like minus the tank... http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%.../photo%204.jpg And without the engine compartment bulkhead.. http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%.../photo%205.jpg |
How much to you think the decks of these boats weigh?
|
I'd say the deck is about 600-800 lbs or so.
|
Been busy with other things lately. Here's where we are now. Still have a lot of cutting and glass work to do...
http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...0stringers.jpg |
moving forward !!!
|
how much rott have you found in the forward stringers, curious i have 86' 30 ft panther that i had done the stringers to the gas tank bulk head and the transom.
|
The two inner stringers and the left outer stringer are rotten to the 2nd bulkhead. The right outer stringer is rotten up to the 3rd bulkhead. I'm counting them from the bow to the stern.
|
Finally had a chance to get back to work on it today. I was able to get the right Inner Stringer glassed in as well as the rear Bulkhead...
http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%.../etyhnet5y.JPG http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...rab/fhdfg).JPG And some Engine Goodies... http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...rab/etnym6.JPG |
The satisfaction of doing it yourself can't be measured.........the job looks great!
|
Thanks scippy, we got the left inner stringer glassed in today. I had to order more cloth.
I'm not a big fan of how the bottom of most (if not all) boats have drains leading from up front into the engine compartment. This one had a 3/4" pvc pipe connecting the bottom of the front of the boat with the engine compartment underneath the gas tank. I'm doing away with all this. There will be no hole in the bottom of the front of the engine room. All the dirty bilge water can slosh around the bilge and not travel up front. This boat will be spending its life under a roof anyways and there wont be any drainage needed to go back to the engine compartment. I'm going to do something about keeping water from the cockpit from draining down around the sides of the fuel tank. Man I hate trying to post from this iphone lol |
If you leave the pipe in, you can just install a plug in the engine bay side. That way you can simply remove the plug if you ever need the pipe.
|
good idea!
|
I think no drain from forward areas to bilge is a very poor idea. Inevitably, water will get in to forward areas through leaks around cleats, rubrail, deck hatches, bow light, rain water through cover, etc.. With no drain, once it is in, it is in. With no air circulation in those areas it will take forever to evaporate.
If you have a properly placed bilge pump setup there should be minimal water in the bilge at any time. This would eliminate the thought of water sloshing from the bilge forward? |
Great Idea spazboz. I might just do that. This boat will likely never see rain while I own it. The only time it would possibly see rain would be on trips to the gulf. The cleats, bow lights, and the joint between the deck and the hull are the only forward places water could get through, and they will be sealed well.
The bilge pump is mounted on the flat area in the front part of the engine compartment. It takes prolly a gallon of water in the bilge to raise the float up high enough to turn on the pump. The pipe going forward was slightly lower than the bilge pump. When you throttle down, any water in the bilge is going past the pump, thru the pipe under the tank, and under the boat interior. I don't know, looks like I might be following spazboz advice. That would be pretty easy to do. |
Got 4 more stringers cut out today. Waiting on more fabric to get here. Hope to get the rest of the stringers back in by next weekend..
http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...photo (22).JPG I decided to do a little to the 454 330's. I've got Lunati 10110702 cams, lifters, better valve springs, new timing sprockets and chains, and some edelbrock air gap intakes. We plan to get the hull back in one piece before we jump into the engines.. http://www.blairautobody.com/Heaths%...arab/photo.JPG |
So, all the stringers were bad?
|
The inners front and rear were badly rotted. The outers in the rear were somewhat rotten. And the outers in the front are surprisingly ok.
|
What an insane amount of work but IMO it's worth it. These older scarabs have some beautiful lines but I may be biased! :)
Definitely gonna watch this one unfold!! |
Wow a lot of work but I think it'll be worth it these are some good looking rides.
|
|
It's coming along can't wait to see this thing done.
|
What type of resin and fiberglass materials are you using?...........If I had known beforehand how much VE resin I was going to use on my 27 Sport resto,
I wouldn't have bought in 5 gallon allotments..........I should've bought a 50 gallon drum!.................Great job, your learning all there is to fiberglass work! |
Looks like great work! You have to love the old Scarabs.:coolcowboy:
|
Originally Posted by scippy
(Post 4064604)
What type of resin and fiberglass materials are you using?...........If I had known beforehand how much VE resin I was going to use on my 27 Sport resto,
I wouldn't have bought in 5 gallon allotments..........I should've bought a 50 gallon drum!.................Great job, your learning all there is to fiberglass work! http://www.ebay.com/itm/370344752698...S:1120&vxp=mtr I ran out and ordered some more, but I messed up and ordered some of this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...E:L:OU:US:1120 It's lighter, so we decided against using it on the stringers, and I ordered more of the first kind to finish the job. What are you guys thoughts on the lighter type? I thought about using it in areas that weren't as structurally important? |
The 10 oz. cloth wets out very good and should be used where you want a smooth finish (I used it as the last layer on the cockpit floor and in the bilge)
it's not a good structural material like a 1708 biaxial......stringers and transoms etc; etc; |
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:47 AM. |
Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.