New Member - Asking for help
 

Greetings everyone -

We are now the proud owner's of a '94 29' Scarab Thunder with twin 350 Mag engines. However, the owner's manual is nowhere to be found and I'm looking for somewhere I might purchase one or someone who has one who would be willing to let us copy it. Since Wellcraft no longer seems to have any interest in Scarabs and has to date not replied to emails requesting any info, we are also looking for a source for some parts - specifically the intake grills. Anyone know a source for these?

We did some extensive research (including this forum) on 29' Scarabs before purchasing and did not see any particular problems or complaints except for the shifter cables. If anyone has some experience with specific areas that might need looking at closely, please let us know.

Looking forward to being a part of this forum and corresponding with others here.

Thanks in advance!

congrats on the purchase!!!

I love mine!

1996 502 whipplecharged!!!

29Scarab -

OK, she's been in the water and now I have another question. Since you have a 29 Scarab, I'm directing this to you specifically but will appreciate help from anyone.

Here's the question (forgive me for sounding stupid but I'm still learning about these high performance boats) - The K-planes on our boat don't seem to be working. I can hear the pumps but see absolutely NO movement on the planes. This is while the boat is on the trailer and the drives are up. Should the K-planes move in this condition or do the drives have to be down and the motor running for them to work? I did get out on the water for a couple of hours and could not tell any difference when trimming the bow with the switches. There are no indicators for the K-planes - only for the drives. This is a stock boat with no mods other than a killer stereo and a tie bar. Help please!!!! Could it be that they are simply out of fluid? If so, where exactly do you fill them and with what?

The tie bar raises a question also. Since the drives are independantly adjustable it seems to me a big disaster in the making if the switches were inadvertantly not pushed together or if one of them failed and one drive lowered and the other did not. Am I wrong again? The way I see it, those switches for the drives should be married together now that there is a tie bar.

I'm so confused!!!!!!!!!

But the boat goes like a bat out of you know where. :>)

PlatinumThunder,

Good luck getting ANYTHING out of Wellcraft for information. They could care less about the Scarab anymore. Like you, I too have tried to contact them on more than one occasion with ZERO response.

I have had to order a couple of small parts for my boat that were exclusive to Wellcraft. I was surprised to see that an area Wellcraft dealer was able to get them for me from the factory. I did get the parts, but I wouldn't be in a hurry that's for sure.

Buck

Platinum Thunder,

Mine move reguardless of in water or out of water. They are electric pumps, so they do not have anything mechanical ging to the engines. They should move on or olff the trailer just like the drives. I never had to trouble shoot them, so I really couldn't help you in that department.. I have Bennet tabs on mine. Good luckwith your problem. Any shop ought to be able to help you.

Platinum Thunder...

The tie bar on the drives should have a heim end on both ends that allow the drives to move up and down independent of each other. In reality the cylinders on each drive may work at a different rate so you would need this flexability. On the tabs, mine work the opposite as you would think. If you push down they go up and if you push up they go down, I know this seems crazy but maybe check that. My tabs also run on a seperate elec hydralic pump than the drives so maybe you pump is bad. I also have a 30 Thunder with twin 502 MPI's its a sweet boat.......

Owners Manual
 

Try Jim Green at South Austin Marine located in Austin, TX. 512-892-2432. If they don't have one... ask who owns one that you might call. Unfortunatly, the guy I sold mine to sunk it on Lake Travis!!!! See Attachment of him holding on to it for dear life -- just before it went down.

Platinum Thunder... Please, please take a powerboat driver safety training course -- or continue to ask as many questions you can think of before driving it. I'd hate to see another person wind up like the guy in the photo of my e-mail hanging on to the boat as it went down. --The upside... the only thing hurt during this accident was the owners feelings! Shoot me an e-mail with your contact info if you'd like referred to someone you can talk with about the powerboat safety. [email protected]

Take care and God bless!

.

Joe,

How did he manage to due that?

Buck

P Thunder welcome aboard, I too have a 29 w/ twin 350 mags ,and had the same problem with my tabs , pump hummed like a charm but know action, I went to the back ,behind port engine there is a canister w/a semi clear top,, clean the connections ,infact check all connections ,,,thats what fixed mine works great NOW!
As far as help,,, try a wellcraft dealer for the intake grills
The drives work independent of each other and you would notice a drastic change in the boats attitude if you let one drive get too farv out of alinghment w/ the other. The only problem I have found is that it is not as smooth in rough water as I had thought ,, and I put nose cones on my Bravos to make them look cool,, and all I did is make the boat hunt and wander at high speed, just takes a little more control at the wheel.

Hey everyone -

Not sure what happened to my last post here or the Gold status I paid for, so I guess I'll just write this again.

Thanks for all the input! I really appreciate the comments, suggestions, etc.

The K-planes are now working. It helps if you know where the reservoir is and it helps even more if you have some transmission fluid in it.

N2BOATN - Thanks for the more detailed explanation of where the tank was located. I actually had already found the problem and corrected it before you wrote but I certainly do appreciate your input. It was only because I took off a day and thoroughly inspected everything that I had corrected the problem before you wrote. It's great to know that you have a 29' Scarab also and I might be asking you more later. Could you please contact me directly at [email protected]

Droopy - I've also looked closely at the tie bar issue and there are joints at each end. However this is an aftermarket tie bar and the joints are not ball & socket joints. There is obvious some room for movement between the two outdrives but I wouldn't want to push it too far. Not really a problem now that I know the situation.

Joe - Sorry to hear (and see) the picture of your previous boat. I'm a meticulous kind due to my training as a private pilot - no room for forgetting things there. It's not like you can just pull over and stop. I guess everyone has their days for "barain freeze" but I try really hard to not experience it myself. A checklist goes a long way towards solving this problem.

Buck183 - We FINALLY did get a response from Wellcraft and guess what? The manual is no longer available - like that was a big surprize!!!!! LOL

Thanks again to everyone. Hope I can help you out sometime in the future. Looking forward to participating as much as possible here. Now, if I could just get OSO to answer me about why my Gold status disappeared I'd be doing fine.

"Honey, the boat is out of gas again!!!!!!"

Glad you got the problem fixed! Its great to have a place like O.S.O.!!

Enjoy your Scarab!

Platinum congrats on your Scarab, if you or anyone have questions feel free to call 800-914-0090. Its buydirectmarine and they have been the worlds largest wellcraft dealer for approx 5yrs now. I personally know they will help you in any way possible and they know Scarabs like the back of their hands. They used to race the twin to the Boars Head F2 boat. They might not be able to give you an immediate response but you would know something within 24 hrs instead of waiting for the factory lord knows how long.

Hi Trent -

Thanks for the info. I'll file it along with the mountain of paperwork we've now accumulated for the boat. I've learned over the years that can never have too much information!

Currently, everything is repaired and functional (is that possible?) so we've graduated to the "having fun" part finally. We were out yesterday and really enjoyed just racing out to the middle of the lake and shutting down for about 2 hours of nothing but peace and solitude. Nice to get away from reality every now and then! Racing across the lake was great fun too.

Thanks again for the information. It's great to know that there IS help out there if the need arises.

I had a 28' Scarab and now a 34' Scarab, terrific boats. Congrats on your 29', enjoy.

By the way, great avatar you got there. :)

Hi Keith -

We're very happy with the boat. My wife wanted a larger boat ... she was used to 38ft. that a friend of hers had a few years ago. We had some rough weather on the lake the other day and we had to make a hasty exit - lightening everywhere. The lake swells were rather large and we sliced right through them with minimal bouncing. She told me later that the 38ft. she used to go out on wouldn't even handle the waves that good.

BTW, glad you like the avitar. That is my wife (and me). Ummmmm, know where the boat got it's name now?

Plat, welcome, sorry to hear about your manual probs


how abouts you post a larger version of your buddy icon ??

:D

Holy Moly!!!! Thanks for the mammaries! oops, I mean memories!!!! :D :D