sre

That sounds about right. What swim platform do you have? If it is the large figerglass one make sure it is reinforced on the bottom. On my friend's 94, the first one fell off ! Scarab did away with those in 87 or 98 I think.

I will try and find a pic of my buddies from a lake here in Michigan. It is called Torch Lake and the color of the water matched the turquois in the paint perfectly.

Where did you buy your boat? That was a pretty rare paint scheme.

iamfaster

SRE, I think i may have your buddies old boat. I bought the boat from Dennis Plukebaum in Prospect Kentucky. He bought the boat from a California company, Drug Abuse Is Life (donation company). The trailer has Michican plates, and i believe i have documentation for the boat in Michican. Did your buddy donate the boat to a co. in California? I have the boat in Long Island, NY.

I pulled the smaller pulleys off and put back to stock. I have put 100 hrs on the motors with absolutely no problems. I tried to attach a pic put file to large.

iamfaster

sre, pics of my boat can be found under www.thunderboatalley.com. Look under gallery summer run 04. Also do a search on this site under summer fun run 2004. there is one pic.

sre

Yes, that is my buddy Gary's old boat. He was the only owner before donating it. He never had a problem except for losing a drive and the swim platform coming loose. We had those brackets on the transom fabricated to eliminate that.

I was on quite a few poker runs with that boat. During the time Gary owned it, he partnered with his brother (my partner at work) to purchase Tom Gentry's old 43' with tripple 1000's and sixes. That boat would run 124 on gps all day.

Small world!

iamfaster

SRE, did your buddy ever do any work/rebuild on the motors. The seals dont look broken. Although the 525's r still running strong,they have 350hrs and I will be doing a complete rebuild this winter. Maybe add a little power, probable blue print/balance port and polish. Do not want to add chillers so options r limited. Any suggestions ? Also, do you know if the drive was completely replaced or rebuilt?

The bubble boat still looks brand new!!! Not a scratch,tear or stain anywhere.

sre

Motors have never been apart. I know that a port blower bearing went and we replaced both after that. The drive was brand new under warranty from Merc.

If you could do chillers, that would be the way to go. You could probably just hit 80 with a small increase in boost. Did you ever run the boat with the small pulleys? It would run 79-80 with that setup.

I am glad to hear the boat is still in great shape. I am still amazed at how Scarab was ahead of the times with that paint scheme. It is still one of the prettiest boats I have seen.

Keep my informed on what you do. I am curious to see what increases you get.

iamfaster

SRE, Thanks for the info. Only ran the smaller pulleys once during the trial run on the Ohio river b4 buying. It ran 78+ on the gafrig and the little blowers sounded like they were gonna blow right through the hatch. I may have pulleys fabricated that r sized between stock and the ones Gary had.

Its amazing that this boat has been all over the country. The trailer is getting a little ratty though. Kept my fingers crossed on trip back to Long Island from Kentucky.

Will b pulling the motors in a couple of weeks.

Take care

JJONES

I Have A 1998 Scarab P-38 That Runs 72 -73 On Gps And Gaffrig!this Was Done On Fresh Water With Mirage 25 Props,the Motors Are Stock525 Sc With Out A Problem.put 100hrs On Them This Year Alone!alot Of Gas!the Spped Was Done With Roughly Half A Tank.some Times Going To Catalina For Lunch We Do 50 All The Way,$300.00 Hamburger And Only A 35 To 40 Min Boat Ride!

iamfaster

JJONES, thanks for the info. we r running the same speed however i am turning 28" spinellis. they r only 14 1/4" diam. Are your props the newer mirage Plus? My experience with those props is that they seem to be pitched higher than their stamped size. What diam? 15"? Rpm's?? Nice looking boat! I am in the process of doing a complete rebuild. Only looking to add aprox 75hp.

JJONES

Im not sure the diameter off the props but the motors do spin them up very easily out of the hole,if im not careful.Top rpm is about 5000,just cant seem to get over that hump!the next thing im doing is aluminum swip step and in kicking around the idea of coolers and pulleys but hatch mods are going to be needed,would like to get over the hump which should put me at 75 which i would like!Oh yeah,The props do say Mirage Plus on them!