New Scarab Owner
 

Finally....Brought her home from Austin the other day. My new to me 1994 Scarab 29. I've had her on lake twice already. I just sold a 30 ft Thompson super cruiser and finally bought a REAL boat. I've been reading your posts and looks like a lot a good bunch of owners. Just wanted to say hello.

Congrats to your new boat and welcome to the REAL club.:D

Welcome to the board. Now find a poker run this summer. Too much fun.

welcome and congrats!

Welcome to the board! I luv mine too!!


Whipple Cherged 502!!

Welcome... welcome!!!! What's the name (or name to be) on the transom? Mine is, "Stress Management." I'll keep my eyes open for you. Live in Houston, but get up there usually once a month in the warm season.

Joe

Congrats! What is in the boat for power?? Details, we want details.:D

A REAL BOAT --- I notice it's a SCARAB
Welcome to the club.

It's a 1994 Scarab 29 with a 454 carb engine. I'm installing the sound system this weekend and still looking for graphics. Racelinedigital.com says that the 2004 graphics hit the web site on monday. So far the top speed is a whopping 50.9 on gps. Kinda sucks. But I'll probably put the holley 250 supercharger on it this summer.

what kind of rpms are you spiing it up to?

my hull is kinda similar to your's, albiet older. BUt i've foung its not teh fastest hull around.

pretty decent in teh rough though, ayt least compared to equal size boats

Rbake, welcome to the board, and congrats on the boat purchase, enjoy. Now let's get some etiquette and housekeeping things out of the way.

Nice of you to join and make your first post in February about how you've already been out on the lake a few times. However this could be easily misinterpreted by your fellow Scarabian owners to the North and Northeast as "rubbing it in". So, we'll need more pictures and details (ladies with bikinis) as penance. We will also require pictures of the bilge, dash and more ladies in bikinis to make it up to us. :D :D Given the average temp here was in the mid 20's the last 6 weeks, you have a lot of making up to do now.

Welcome to the group.... whats up bro's??? and HELL YEAH!!!!...what Kieth said!!:crazy: :cool: :D :D

I'm running it at 5800 rpm's, Is this too high. It's got a 22 pich 4 blader now. would a 24 be better? I don't care too much about top speed right now. Just don't want to blow the thing up. Oh yeah, went out again yesterday. It was in the upper 60's (Temp not speed). Can't talk anyone into a bikini yet. But trust me, this summer there's definately going to be some good pics.

Here's part of my dash (I just put in new guages and bezels, I custom made the top piece and moved 3 guages down to make the dash look better)

My not so impressed daughter

5800? Are you sure the tach is correct?

I've only run Merc 454Magnums and HP500's, both had factory WOT limits set at 5000. Unless I'm missing something here, 5800 on a stock 454 is bad. The boat may be way under propped, could cause some serious damage.

I was running a 23p 3 blade on my 28 Scarab (454Magnum). Just went from a pair of 23/3's to 24p 4 blades on my 34' (500's). Both boats pretty much were maxed at 4800-5000 but that's supposed to be the max as recommended by Merc.

It's a carbed motor so I don't think that there is a rev limiter. The Tach is brand new, but the old one ran the same rpm. I guess I'll put my timing light on it and check the tach. I think I'll step up to a 24P 4 blader.

if it s 330hp 454 5800 is way too high!!!!!!

i spin my engien up to like 5300-5400 but it has all forged internals and so forth.

you you need a bigger prop! also check your tach some of them on eth back have a switch so it can be used on different engines if the wrong position is slected that might make it read out all screwwy

It says 365 HP on the title of the boat. How many rpm per pitch on the prop?? would a 26 maybe be too much pitch?? The engine appears stock. Seller was a consignment and didn't know too much about the boat. I only paid 24K for it with a 3 axel trailer so I wasn't too worried about the engine. I figure I could freshen it up for under 2K. The engine is painted a silver/grey color. Is this a stock color?? It has all the right stickers on it. The bilge is really clean, as the rest of the boat. No hour meter so I really have no idea.

You're definitely under propped and shouldn't be spinning more than 5000 without internal work like puder mentioned. A stock 454 Magnum was rated at 5000 WOT and was usually mated to a 23p 3-blade Mirage on that Scarab.

Trimmed out, I could get mine maxed out at 5000 which was perfect. For a 4 blade people recommended I step down in pitch, but I never got to that point and bought the 34'. The original Merc 454Mags were black from factory, sounds like you have a replacement engine.

You really would do well to try and track down the original owner. If it was documented, use the USCG website to find the info. If it was registered, send an inquiry to agency.

Without knowing more about the engine itself, you're going to have to experiment a little. Try a 24p 4 blade, the 26 will more than likely be too much unless that engine is really torqued up.

Oh yeah, throw an hour meter on it, always good to know when to change the oil and perform other maintenance once you've established your baseline at this stage.

K2

What was your top speed?? Is 50.9 normal for my boat?? It just seems slow. It was totally full of gas and there were 5 people on it but 50.9??? My bosses new bayliner with a V6 runs 49.

seeing as the engine is kind of "unknown" you shouldn't be spinning it up to high like you have been. Hell you might (unlikley) but it is possible have cast internals in your engine. In which case sustained 5800 rpm running will kill it fairly quickly.

i;d say first off find the casting numbers on the heads and see what you have on there. If they are rect port the chances of it being a rebiult 454mag (forged internals) go up. Then get eth casting number off the block. If its a 4 bolt block its probably not a 330/454.

might be someother easy to get to clues as to exactly what combo you have. Hopefully itsa 454mag that was rebiult once (overbore pistons and new bearings) and they decieded to paint it a snazzy color.

If it was rebuilt then they did more than just paint it. It has numerous factory mercruiser stickers on the valve covers, thermostat housing, etc that are on top of the new paint. I'll try to snap some pics tomorrow and also get the engine block codes. I'm interested in just what I bought.

Mine would hit 65mph on GPS with nobody on board, tail wind, going with the tide in a 2 foot chop running on fumes. :) Did it only a few times. But 61 to 63 was pretty consistent depending upon fuel, wind, gear and crew. That was with a 3 blade, 23p Mirage.

I'm running in the low 70's right now with my 29. Still have some tuning on props to do.

The Whipple was a good kicker! I also have a Stellings extension box I'm waiting to put on. I'm shooting for upper 70's to low 80's once its put on. The low 70's was with 4 people and almost full on fuel!!

Good luck with yours!!

Re: New Scarab Owner
 

Welcome to OSO. I almost got a 29 last year when I decided to get back into boating, but found a deal on a 31SS Sonic and decided to go with it. You are going to love your boat.

You are located near Lake Travis? My boat is there now having engine work done for this season. Hoping to have it completed by the end of this month so I can hit the lake April 17th with the Baja guys for their annual run. Should be about 80 to 100 boats from what I have heard.

I am located in Plano (Dallas). The name of my boat is Shameless. If you see me out be sure to say hello.

ST31

Ok, I guess I didn't read a damn thing on my engine until today. It's a Marine Power E454P-MR2 complete replacement engine. I went to Marinepoweruse.com and they have all the specs. Looks like it came complete with everything including the manifolds, risers, alternator, brackets, the works. 380 Horse and oh yeah 4400 to 4800 wot operating. I think my tach must be off. I'm going out on the lake tomorrow with my mechanic and he's going to dial it all in.

But, at least I know it had a new engine at some time in her life. I'm trying to contact Marine Power and check the sale date of the engine.

Anyone had any experience with this company??

Shannon, I only make Travis a couple of times a year (Devil's Cove is the greatest) Lake Belton is only 3 miles from my house and is never crowded. You should try it out, about an hour closer to you.

I have been on Belton once many years ago when I was in college. I was dating a girl from Temple at the time and we went to the lake with a large group of her friends. Back then everyone there used to have those pretty much home made two story deck boats. Do they still have those around there? Great lake. Some of the clearest water around. You would not happen to know of a guy named David Ballmer would you?

Don't know him. Belton is a great lake. Corp owned so nobody owns the land on the water, 30 ft off water is closest you can own. No personal boat houses etc. A few good marina's, no restaurants to speak of. A lot of house boats and open bows but I've got one of maybe 4 or 5 closed bow sport boats on the lake.

No one really anchor's up with strangers like travis. Where hoping to get something like devil's cove going this year. If anyone is ever in town look me up.

Congrads. I just got my 29 in late december and can't wait to start using. You lucky dog.