Hi all,

New to the board, great site btw..
we just bought a 1986 21; scarab I w/235 johnson (1985) outboard.. old motor but she still pushed her up to 52mph with 3 adults and 2 kids, not to shabby I guess. Just looking for other owners of the old scarab I's... wondering about potential problem areas etc.. also looking for a new cockpit cover, ours is decent but needs replacing soon. thanks

david

dont; much much about egg beater boats (outboards) but that soudn like a fun ride, welcome to the board.

most 80s scarabs you have to watch out for wet transoms and sometimes rotted sringers. They are generally more of "pre purcahse" inspection item though.

Hi,

thanks for the response, yes we had a pre purchase done on the boat and was told it was rock solid in the stringers/transom, some light rot in the aft port locker its an easy fix though. Just the wood that forms the "shelf" there. I just wanted to start learning more about the boat and its "problem" areas. They seem to have been built very solid and that ride is legendary.. wow.. I cant wait to get her back out. We had an issue with the ouboard and a broken mount that was not noticed so its in the shop getting that checked out. I have it now at a local shop so am having him go over the boat again to see if the previous shop "missed" anything else.. ugh. love the boat though great lines and even though she is a small scarab a good intro boat into this arena.

david

could't agree with you more!!!! I've got an 87 26 excel myself with a 461 (454 .030 over) and a litle blower. she makes like 550hp. Granted she isn't the fastest girl around but the ride is solid

Its nice to see some other 21' owners out there. One thing I noticed on mine is that it seems to hold water in the hull. A couple of times this year when I pulled out the drain plug in the back water came out, even though the bilge was dry. The hull is tight so I'm pretty sure it was rain water that somehow had gotten in and drained under the floor. Something to keep an eye on. Mine is a blast to drive, I moved up from an 18' Donzi, which I still have, but the Scarab seems to handle the rough stuff a little better.

Well I found out today that the transom is rotted out.. ugh. Anybody have a 21 that they have had the transom rebuilt???? The guy that checked it out before we bought the boat said all was fine, although he thought there may be some "soft spots" where the outboard is bolted to the transom. The guy that has the boat now says he will pull the deck off and put a new transom in for $2500. He did say that until he gets into it he wont know for sure what else will need replaced. The cost could go up to north of 6K.. ouch. any thoughts ideas or shops near georgia that you may have had this done to your S1 would be appreciated.

david

David, Sorry to hear about your boat. I am in No. Ill. so I can't help with a shop near you. What you are talking about is a fair amount of work. I am currentlly in the process of doing just that in my 18' Donzi. you might want to talk to a second opinion if you can do so without insulting the person who now has your boat. I would be interested in talking to them about how to get to and check the stringers without removing the deck or the gas tank. I had to replace a bulkhead in mine, just under where the cabin door is. The starboard stringer looked a little soft, but it was June and time to go boating, so I figured I would check it about this time of year.

Thanks Greg,

I talked with a friend of mine who had his 19 foot speed machine's transom rebuilt by a guy south of us near Columbus, GA that does great glass work.. This particular guy has been doing it all his life and did a great job on my friends boat so I will call him today. Ya I dont want to insult the guys here locally but dont want to toss that kind of money away either. I am going to let them keep the motor to freshen up and I am planning on taking the boat down to this other guy soon. He did my friends boat for 1400 and said a normal transom job is closer to a grand.. not bad when the work is such high quality. I have a certifed surveyor coming out today to go through the boat to see what the guy the did the pre purchase inspection missed, just for piece of mind really. This way I will know what I have and what I dont. haha.. Do you know of anyone using a jackplate on these outboard S1's..??? I was interested in putting one on to get that motor up out of the water a little more, speed speed speed...haha..
thanks
david

i would have some words with the guy who did the pre purchase inspection. to be honest i'd at least demand yoru money back from him.

He SHOULD NOT have given a boat with a soft transom the all clear.

Sorry to hear about the work its gonna need. That sucks. My advcie is maybe fix it and sell it. It seems when you start fining one gremlin another pops up and its keeps getting more and mroe expensive.

I have talked with him (the guy that did the pre-purchase and also talked to the owner of the brokerage where we bought the boat) and he insists the transom is solid, with the exception of "maybe" the area where it bolts thru..... They are a good haul from my house and its not worth my trouble to haul the boat up there and back. The money we paid for the boat was allowing for a power head rebuild which so far seems OK.. It is getting a full check yesterday/today and I will know more about it today.. So its not a huge "loss" just putting money into it where I didnt think it needed it. According to the certified surveyor yesterday its a solid boat except for the soft spot around the top of the motor mount in the transom.. he said thats very common on these old scarabs.. But man what a great riding boat... cant wait to get it back in the water.. it will be winter time but thats why I have sweaters and big jackets. haha..