Hey guys obviously new here but I have been lurking the entire website for awhile now. As of right now I am not a owner of a boat but have been trying to sell my crotch rocket for a while now and just recently was offered a 1983 30ft Scarab II that seems to be all stock but was neglected as far as the interior goes, you can tell it spent its life in the water as there is what I beleive is oxidation on the outdrives. I really have no clue about boats but am very mechanically inclined and dont miond putting some elbow grease into this thing but really dont want to dump a butt load of money into for driveability to say the least. Is there anything these things are known for going bad or is there anything i should really look for. As of right now it is winterized also so I would be able to hear it run either which makes me a little nervous.Supposedly one of the outdrives has been rebuilt but that is all this owner knew about it as he was going to restore it but just doesnt have the time I guess. Sorry for such a long read.

check stringers and transome sounds like a lot of money and time

Any pictures of the boat? How many hours are on it? How much is the asking price? Be careful about a boat that someone else was going to restore. They may know something about the boat and found out it was too much to fix it. Ther are a lot of boats out there for sale now so look around at some other boat to see what conditions the others are in.

Gixxer, Freshwater or salt water? If you believe that the boat was stored in the water for long periods of time, and it was saltwater, you might wanna reconsider. Unless the boat has bottom paint and zincs, the erosion properties of saltwater would be terrible.

Does he have receipts for the outdrive repair?
You should really take some pics and post them up for the guys here to check to boat out,

You have to remember, it's a boat, and they cost a butt load cash no matter what, not only is it a boat, it's an offshore boat, now it's gonna cost you double, oh yeah its a neglected 27 year old offshore boat, you're screwed!

Of the four boats I own my Scarab II is the one I own for me. It's no creampuff either, but it's hands down my favorite boat.

Now let us know when you made the trade, then read scottie150's rebuild.

Good Luck
Bill

The boat is in an inside storage so I wouldnt be able to get pics right away but here is the ad he has it listed on. We are in the same area so its not that far away, It was in freshwater only and "supposedly" only has 104 hours on it, as far as scotties build goes that is defintly a nice retoration job he is doing however I am gonna go out on a limb here and say that the fundage really would be there to go to that extreme of a resto. Most of the interior I can do myself or I have a friend that does upholstery work so it could be done fairly cheap.

http://www.racingjunk.com/category/1...-or-trade.html

I see the one photo, looks nice. I'd take a chance on it. Check that transom and the stringers

Couple of things- really check out the transom and stringers, especially the fuel tank because as a lot of us on here know, that job really sucks. Take the time to do a compression test on both engines, and check out the trannies and drives, because if even one of those things I just mentioned is bad you are going to spend $$$$. Do the math- even if you can buy it right little things can really add up quick. Better to spend a little more up front and get exactly what you want. Hell, I will sell you mine for not much more than that(OK- maybe a little bit more than that)

Thanks guys, supposedly he had a friend which does boat surveying look it over and all that was good, and all im doing is trading my Hayabusa for it so I have no intial out of pocket on it, however I am layed off right now so money to put in isnt gonna happenright away.