A friend and I had the '98 22 scarabs, his with a small block with lightweight build close to 400 HP, mine with the stock 454 bravo package and without doubt, the lightweight setup was ideal for the hull. He would run by me with ease in the rough stuff, run flatter and faster. I'd top at 66-7 mph on gps, he just over 70. His boat just flew better. No one has mentioned that K-planes or tabs (though I prefer planes) can be added that give the boat even better rough water handling, but don't kid yourself, its not a real offshore, but can be made to run home safely when it gets rough. We did poker runs on the Great Lake Ontario in up to 2-3 footers, more than that and we throttled back to limp home. The boat will give you a touch of performance boating on a beer budget for sure, just keep your expectations real. I like the idea of a 383 in it...I think it would be a great match. Keep in mind, the older scarab 22's (called Eclipse) are heavier. The newer lighter weight build hulls seems to have thrown off the balance for big blocks if you don't have tabs/planes. I have seen one with 280 K-planes and a built 502...fast, but a drivers boat (handful) for sure. I had mine for 4 years and loved it...wanted bigger and went to a 26 Scarab then a 29 Scarab like most boaters do!

Oh, never did I get wet...really. I can drive! :whistle:

I swear every person selling a 22 within a 1000 miles of me is a junk merchant....I'm sure that's not true, but dangit man....Drove 3 hours last week to see one that ended up being so rotted I'm not sure it was salvageable without totally rebuilding the entire boat. The rear seat back was so rotted that it was resting on the power steering pulley, and by the looks of it had been for a while. The floor was gone, like gone....the back corners were literally just carpet hanging on for life. Popped the fuel tank hatch and someone had jammed chunks of 2x4 in there to sort of support the floor. Junk.
So....I'm taking a 12 hour ride tomorrow to go look at a Sea Ray Pachanga 22. That's really the only other thing I've liked as much as the Scarab. So, we'll see what i find.

did you find a 22 you liked ?