ethan169

Hey guys,

Ive found a boat which i am interested in buying and will be taking a personal look at in a few days here. I did try searching for common problems or problems in general with this boat but didnt find much. I couldnt even find a generic what to look for when buying a boat...

What im looking for is anyone with valuable information on this particular model as far as common issues things to lookout for etc. This is my first boat so I have that factor of newness as well. I am a motor head so I do know engines fairly well. I dont know drives and all that very well.

The boat is a 86 Scarab I with a 350 crate motor. I was told it has a more aggressive cam and an intake mani on it. I will get more details on the motor when I actually see it. As I mentioned I can asses the motor fairly well. But I DO NOT know what to look for in the drive and lower unit etc. From what I understand the boat has been used in fresh water only. Id be looking at fresh water use as well maybe take it off shore too if I get comfortable?

Ill add a few pictures. Im looking at $3k with trailer that has fresh tires and tongue. Thoughts suggestions would be much appreciated.

phragle

its a wellcraft..look at the transome and stringers closely..

ethan169

EDIT: I think I was confused on the term transom. I supposed I can look to make sure its solid and no rot? A visual should give me a good idea from inside the engine bay and out?

Thanks again

Could you give me a few points of advice one what to look at? I mean besides looking for visual issues im a little lost. Thats kind of what im looking to get some advice on.

Thanks for the help!

phragle

tap on it with something...if its a dull thud its dead..if it sounds solid it may not be so bad

ethan169

Ok I should be able to do that. I assume I can do something similar with the stringers? At least in the engine bay area?

What about the out-drive? I believe it will have the alpha one? Im not sure if I can really drain a little oil form it to asses for water etc. Not enough at least. All I can think of is check to make sure it goes into both gears ok, check the belows for cracks etc. and other visual stuff that would be common sense? Ill check all of the electronics as they supposedly all work switches and gauges.

A side question... i dont see alot of information about these boats online. Are there just not that many left out there? Should I just stear clear of this model? It seems like a decent first boat with a little bit of bad ass factor to it. Also looks sharp. Plus the price is right for me to see if i like boating. Well i know i like boating but if I like actually owning a boat....Im sure I will though

Thanks for the advise!

ethan169

Ok well im going to look at the boat this afternoon. Id like to perform a compression check on the engine. Is it the same as on a car?

I plan on removing all of the spark pulgs and removing the plug to the coil to disable ignition. Im not sure how it is setup on a boat as far as disabling the ignition. I then put the throttle all the way down and crank over a few times on each cylinder. Sound right?

Thanks again for the help!

ethan169

Ok so I took a look at the boat this evening. I was not able to do a compression test due to time but the boat sounded very good and seemed to run well. Of course this was not under any load as it was on the trailer.

The boat has been bottom painted and it looks like it could be redone. Im not sure if this is really a bad thing or not. Also they seemed to have painted the entire outdrive with bottom paint. Ive posted some pictures.

I also looked at the transome closely and couldnt really find anything that makes me think it is rotted. It seemed solid when i knocked on it all around the drive. The floor and stringers in the engine bay seems solid. I dont see anything delaminating and it looks fiarly clean. The motor sounds really good and seems to run well. The oil looks very clean as well with no water. Im sure they could have just changed the oil to hide a problem but i dont really suspect that.
Ive got the price down to $2900 cash. Any thoughts? Here are a few more pics.

Greatlaker

You can't buy much of any boat for $2900. I had one 20 years ago it was a fun boat not very fast but fun. check the corners of the cockpit floor they always cracked real bad. Good luck

scarabman

The drive looks pretty beat. You could always throw an SEI lower on it.

As to value, the LEDs on the transom are probably worth $500

ethan169

Im glad you mentioned the LED's. They guy said he thought they were around $1000 I rolled my eyes and was like yeah ok buddy. I cant imagine why they would cost so much? Just because they are meant for constant submersion?

As for the drive yeah it does look a little beat but I think with some work over the winter i can get the majority of that bottom paint off and get some nice fresh gloss black on there. Supposedly they went through the drive and everything seemed ok. However I am confused as to what that huge fin is right above the prop? I thought maybe thats how the gen 1 Alpha 1 drivers were but ive been looking at the differences and that doesnt seem to be a characteristic.

Any idea what that fin is? Is it good bad doesnt matter etc?

I think ive decided that im gonna pick this up today. Absolute worst case scenario is im out $2900 and give the boat away. But I dont see that happenening as it seems it is in decent shape. Plus I have all winter to go through it and hopefully have some cheap fun this coming summer.

Thanks again!

Ethan