Scarab 22 - how wet and how rough is the ride?
 

Hey all, thanks for any thoughts you can provide. I am currently in the market for a 22-ish foot sporty boat. I'm currently narrowed down to either the Scarab 22 or an older Pachanga 22. Our current boat is a little 18 foot bowrider, so it will be a nice upgrade. We run around Tampa Bay and out into the Gulf on occasion, and we currently get the crap beat out of us on anything bigger than calm seas. And even with a full windshield cutting 1-2 foot chop can be a pretty wet ride in the current boat. So the Scarab's lack of any real windshield has the girlfriend concerned that it'll be a terribly wet ride most days. Any input on just how bad it tends to be? And how about how the boat handles the rough, compared to average?
Thanks!

I had a 22 Scarab...nice little boat. I can only compare it to my 21 Checkmate outboard and 28 Active Thunder. As you would expect it falls right in the middle as far as rough water handling. It's only a 20 degree V so you take your lumps in anything over 2 footers. I don't remember the boat being a particularly wet ride.

Look into a Baja 240 Sport or 24 or 25 Outlaw. You can find great deals on them and there's is plenty of them to pick from. 24* bottom and higher sides. decent boat in 2' chop

They are fun little boats, I ran one for a couple seasons - I boated calm inland lakes, two footers would be terrible

A 22 Velocity if you can find one. They are a very dry ride and handle rough water well. They are even faster in good water with their Stepp bottom.

. Oops.

I owned a 27' Pachanga many years ago and it was a nicely built boat that handled the chop as well as any other 27' boat around. Never ridden a 22 but I'd guess it is also well built.

No idea where you're located and what your price range is but I noticed this Pahanga a couple of days ago...
http://www.powerboatlistings.com/photographs/45495

Pics look very very nice, preferred Bravo drive with a 7.4 litre. Not the cheapest by any means but if the pics and description are accurate, maybe nothing to spend anywhere.

Good luck and happy shopping!

RR

Thanks for the responses!

I'm certainly not expecting a smooth, luxurious ride in the 2 footers! :) Our current ride feels like a flat bottom skiff though, it's quite violent and something even marginally better would be nice.

Thanks for the suggestions on the Baja's and the Velocity, I'll take a look at those too for sure!

Rak rua that Pachanga is a twin to the one I'm already looking at, but that one is double the price! I'm in Tampa, Florida but I don't mind a road trip to get the right boat especially if it's been in fresh water. In the last few days I've come across 2 different big block Scarab 22's for around $10,000 and this other Pachanga for just a little less. I'm not opposed to spending more than that for the right value though, not at all. A few weeks ago I found a Scarab 22 that claimed to have a newer Merc 496 HO in it for 14 grand, which I felt like with a little wiggle room might be a great deal. Made a 4 hour trip to see the boat and found a regular 7.4 with a different air cleaner on it :angry-smiley-055: :angry-smiley-055:
I've always been a fan of anything Scarab, so I'm partial to them but the openness of the cockpit concerns me. Not really ME, but if the girl doesn't like the new boat that wont go over well. I fabricate all sorts of custom fiberglass parts at work so I'm certain I could fab something up, but i also don't want to ruin the lines of the boat either.

I had a 96 I bought new and kept for 3 or 4 yrs. It was fun boat. I don't remember it being a wet ride and I used to run mine in the Atlantic. For their size, they do OK.

It's a 22' boat with swim platform. You are prob only gaining 2 feet in length. Jump up to 29' scarab with twin 350's

have you looked at Avanti 22's ?

That would be great if there was more around. Awesome Boat

Bobby Mcklennan (sic) has one for sale, it was on FB powerboatswap...

Can't go quite that far yet. I've got a half ton truck to tow it, so twins is a sketchy pull. Plus I prefer to store the boat inside and a 25/26 footer is going to require moving a wall in my shop, but anything bigger I just don't have the space for. And I think I'd end up pushing well beyond my intended budget and then some! :)

Just saw this on PBL this morning.....certainly never heard of it, but since it's right up the road it might be worth a look. The boat as whole is fairly ugly, interior and exterior...but at that price I'd have it wrapped and have the interior re-done right away.
http://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/27031

Powerboatlistings is an interesting research tool to learn more about different boats and models but they don't delete a lot of old adds....

That one is more than 2 years old. Kinda sucks but lesson learnt, always look at the ad listing date on that website.

RR

Aw crap, you're right on. Oops. That's ok, the more I look the more that boat is nasty.

Inquired about a 28' Checkmate this morning on the craigslist with a 502. As I said above it's bigger than I planned, but a single engine should tow OK and if the deal is right I'll put up a pole shed to provide cover I guess.

Geez.......found what appears to be a deal on a 29' with twin 350s. After posting that I didn't want something that big 2 deals have popped up this morning....maybe the boat gods are telling me otherwise! ;)
http://ocala.craigslist.org/boa/5812758466.html

$7800 ???

If he's serious, it's not stolen or has some other title issues, and he didn't forget to type some digits....I'm towing that home tomorrow. Half ton truck or not!

Its a wellcraft, make sure its not wet!!!!!

My buddy has a very clean Doral 23 Phazar. 454 with a bravo I'm sure you could have for 9k but you have to drive 20hrs to get it.

As sort of expected, no reply on the 29. Or anything else I inquired about via craigslist....grr.

Erik1976, where would that boat be? I'm not opposed to a drive or having it shipped.

Hey all....so bringing this back alive, I think I've finally settled that I'll be picking up a Scarab 22 over the other boats. Regardless of anything else, I've always had a love for anything
Scarab and I think if I buy anything else I'll always wish I had a Scarab logo on it. Probably a rather foolish way to make a boat decision, but it's what I want. I'm also finding that it's a buyers market for these boats right now...there are a bunch of them for sale and none of them are selling.
So here's my next question: I'm currently looking at a couple different ones, and they all have the 7.4 big block. Down the road if I decide I'd like more power or if the old 7.4 gives out I'm looking at options for the next engine. I've been around circle track racing forever and I'm very familiar with the small blocks, but big blocks are sort of new to me. Which begs the question, if I can build a small block to give me similar power and torque to the stock big block why not go that way and save the weight? I can certainly put together a 383 that will produce well over 400hp and 450 ft/lbs for under $5000, carb to pan not including exhaust. I'd have the same $$$ in a rebuilt stock 7.4. I'd figure on saving about 300 pounds or more on the engine, then more savings with headers over the big block's cast manifolds, then if I can squeeze a little better fuel consumption I can start the day running 50 pounds or so lighter on fuel. I'd gain a little of that weight back with a closed cooling system, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say that I could save 350lbs, which is more than 10% of that boats total weight.
And again, my experience is all on dirt oval tracks where we would give 2 toes and a nut to save 10% of the weight.....so am i on the wrong path thinking that it's as beneficial in a boat?

You have a couple things going on....

theres more than one 454. You want to find a boat that has a 454 MAGNUM not a standard 454 (365 hp vs 330hp) the hp difference isnt that much but the motors a very different. the 330 has a cast crank, small rods, itty bitty peanut port heads. the mag mot has a forged crank, bigger rods, more compression, rectangle port decent heads etc. You can easily build a lot more power out of the mag motor. (be carefull in like 87-88 merc made a 330 hp 454 for 2 years they called a magnum, it wasnt. you can tell if its hooked to an alpha drive, a magnet sticks to the intake manifold and may have a red sticker on the valve cover that says 330 hp. plastic engine cover/and or flame arrestor may also say 454/alpha.

as for bc or sbc.... depends on what you want to do. weight is not always the enemy especially regarding ride quality.

I'm only finding these boats with the 330hp version. :( That's kind of why I'm already considering the repower before I've even brought one home. Given everything I've read about the non-mag 454 I can't see any reason to try to rebuild or add power to that engine, for all of the reasons you mention. It's basically a cheap truck engine converted for reliable marine use, from what I can tell.
Plus most of the boats I'm looking at are saltwater boats, and they're all raw water cooled so I anticipate some potentially scaly internals, and whatever I'd swap in would get a freshwater system on it to save that from happening again.

But ahhhh yeah ride quality, very valid point. I know they made this boat with both SBC and BBC, anyone have an experience between them? Running in Tampa Bay and the Gulf it's very, very rare that we get flat water. The local news called today a "great boating day" with 1-2 foot seas and light chop - thats about as good as it ever gets here. I'm assuming that all things being equal (HP, torque, etc) a boat being 10% lighter should be faster, but we're not running shootouts here so if it kills the ride quality then that's kind of a stupid move on my part.

I had a 96 22 Scarab with a 454MPI and then later put in a 502 MPI . I had a blast racing around in it on lakes and rivers. It will rattle your cage if the water gets very rough . The boat was always very heavy in the stern. I always thought a built small block w/ Bravo 1 drive would have been a much better choice. Much better balance. Had a friend with one that had a small block in it. It sat a few inches higher at the stern than mine with the big block.

You can build a stout 355 or 383. The boat came with both big and small blocks. Another concern is handling over certain speeds. They may have limited power because the boat didn't like more. Also consider the faster you go the more you'll need. Hydraulic steering, better tabs. Stuff of that nature. Try to find a good clean one and run it and make sure you like it before you have to spend a ton of extra money.

383 was what I was thinking. That seems like a perfect engine for this boat. 400hp and 400 ft/lb isn't too hard to accomplish in a reliable package. But I've got some more learning to do, as I said I'm experienced with building these for race car applications but not marine.
I'm hoping to get a boat that I can run stock probably though summer of '17, then swap next fall if I decide I want to.
It's looking like these boats typically run low 60's stock, and are pretty commonly pushed up to 70-ish. If I can get a reliable 70 out of it now and then that's fine for me in this application. We don't need to set records, we just want to get from one island to the next a little quicker :)

They are not too hard to get to run close to 70 or so. They have a modified delta pad bottom which helps with that, but is also what contributes to them not being the best rough water ride out there in size category. IMO the small block package balances the boat a little bit better than a big block and ride quality doesnt really change. They are a fun boat and handle well for what they are.

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 ?