2018 Scarab 195 Questions....

[Bcollins111900]

I have a guy (second owner) who is local who has a 2018 Scarab 195 for sale. Motor currently has 315 hours on it but the boat itself is in great shape. How many hours is to many on these motors? What maintenance should have been completed by now, supercharger rebuilt? Are the motors in these boats pretty reliable or would I be better off looking at something else with less hours on it? Thank you in advance!

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

It likely had a "maintenance free" supercharger. Which means it needs to be checked periodically. At this point, definitely checked by a professional. They likely look for signs of overheating, damage, discoloration, moment slip check, etc. IF it's OK, you move on. If not, you either need to replace it or get it rebuilt by a third party company such as Greenhulk.

Check the compression of each cylinder. Make sure they are within specs.

Otherwise it's the usual pump inspection and maintenance which an owner can likely do themselves. Oil change, coolant Change, etc.

My boat has over 270h now. I'd buy it in a heartbeat at these hours. I'd often argue that a well worn engine that is properly maintained will give you less problems than a new one. Lol Gremlins are worked out.

Like a car, price should go down with more use. But yeah, if she's good and it's what he wants, I would buy it.

 

[Bcollins111900]

Thanks for the info Luc. If my research is correct, 2018 and newer had the "maintenance" free superchargers?

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

It started in 2017 sometime. 2018 models should yes.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

In case you want to confirm...

 

[andrei_b]

Could you elaborate a little on what is involved in a supercharger rebuild? Could the newer maintenance-free version be retrofitted to pre-2016 engines? Ballpark guesstimate what the cost should be to have a shop do the work? Thanks in advance.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Sorry, I don't know all of these answers. I don't do supercharger rebuilds. Greenhulk does.

To my knowledge, yes you can retrofit a maintenance free one. But note that even the "maintenance free" chargers need to be replaced/maintained at times. It's just that Rotax no longer indicates to rebuild them. They say they should last longer... just inspect them and swap them out with a new one when the time comes.

But like anything, it will eventually fail. They do indicate in their manuals to have it checked by a dealer every 200h (the maintenance free ones). Old ones to be rebuilt every 200h. You'll have to do a cost comparison of buying a whole new one and still have to get it checked/rebuilt but more spaced out intervals... or just stay with the old one and pay to have it rebuilt every 200h by the dealer or a company such as Greenhulk. Greenhulk does tons of them btw. It's likely a terrific choice. You ship it to them and they ship it back.

Rebuilds to my knowledge involve replacing bearings, inspecting things, and very importantly, re-adjusting what's called the "moment slip". You need a digital torque wrench and you need to adjust it very precisely. Too loose and it won't perform correctly. Too tight and you could damage it. It's essentially some spring washers with a bolt. The tension has to be JUST right. This allows the turbine to spin and slip accordingly depending on when you hit that throtlle hard. It needs to have some give.... hence it "slips".

I've heard various prices over the years... ballpark I'd guess is about 800CAD (I'm in Canada) for a rebuild. Look up the conversion to your currency. USD is NOT equal to CAD which is a common mistake many americans make (in case you are). Our dollar is worthless in our southern neighbor's eyes ha ha. I think new ones are probably around 1800CAD. Take these numbers with a lot of salt. I have never bought or gotten one rebuilt.

 

[andrei_b]

Excellent info, thank you. I'm currently sitting at 190 hrs so I will plan on getting that done after the summer boating season. I'm 99% confident that it hasn't been done yet and is the original part(s).

I'll contact a few places to get a feel for what they charge and whether the "upgraded" part is worth the cost. I've been reading through pages and pages of threads here, learning every day and much appreciate your insights.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Glad the forum is helpful. There's definitely a lot to learn. If you do get numbers/conclusions, it's always great to hear back because of course, others are looking for the same info. So knowing what the prices were, what did you decide to do, etc. Worth reporting back if you can. Even if somehow the conclusion is "I don't have a conclusion", that's also helpful. There are countless threads with no conclusions. We presume they were resolved... but not "hey, this worked!". lol

 

[Bcollins111900]

In case you want to confirm...

I'm going to ask a stupid question as I have zero experience with these boats, what is the change a boat that is a 2016 having a maintenance free supercharger? Also in regards to the picture, where exactly should I or have someone look for this specific nut?

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

All good @Bcollins111900 . Only one way to learn.

During the year 2017, BRP decided to redesign their superchargers. People don't like having to regularly rebuild them but yet, still want ALL the HP. lol It's yet another maintenance cost and this one is fairly involved since you have to remove it from the engine and send it off/bring it to a dealer. Also fairly costly to rebuild. So 2017 was the year they released a newly designed supercharger that is supposedly better balanced/designed. Those things spin at crazy rates and any small balancing issues can be catastrophic. They can shoot metal pieces including the bearings themselves out and into the engine causing lots of damage.

So the idea was, make them better/more solid/more stable. Then they become "maintenance free". Aka, no need to get them rebuilt every 200h. But... the catch was, you still need to get them reviewed/inspected by a professional every 200h. So... IF they are in good shape, then yeah, it's quite a bit cheaper. Just get it checked out. And hopefully it's good for another 200h. You pay a relatively small fee for the inspection and you're done. But if it's overly worn because you have the throttle at 100% at all times, etc. Then you're suppose to shell out the big bucks and buy a new one.

Third party companies realized that buying a new one is ridiculous and that these new superchargers can STILL be rebuilt. BRP just doesn't want to because it probably costs more on labor/parts then to just swap it out. Typical big company approach of course. But smaller companies saw a reason to offer this service since it can be done. So they now offer rebuilding services even on the newer superchargers with OEM parts. Thus, making them like new again at a fraction of the cost of buying a new one.

I happen to own a 2023 Sea-Doo GTX 230 with a supercharger myself. My Scarab boat is a 150HP NON-supercharged engine. My new Sea-Doo has this new supercharger. So every 200h, I'm supposed to take it out and send it off (or bring the whole thing to a dealer of course) and inspect it. I don't ride my ski very hard. I'm more of a touring type of guy. So odds are, my supercharger will be in mint shape and I won't need to rebuild it for many, many years. For me, that's a nice edge. Still get the extra HP for those times I want it, but very little maintenance on it. It's the reason I bought this specific engine HP (along with regular gas vs premium... that's another story). lol

Because these were released in 2017, SOME boats have them, some do not. Depends on when the engine was installed/parts available, etc. 2018 onward were definitely "maintenance free" chargers.

So the question became, what do we have? And hence, that notice came out to help people identify what they have. One of the visible things is a single nut. Literally smack in the middle of the supercharger. Relatively subtle change obviously from what you can see on the picture. But the idea is that you need to look at the very center of the supercharger. This may be easy or hard to do depending on where it's located in your boat vs. boat design. It may require you to remove it entirely. But then you can look at that central nut and see what type of charger it matches.

Hopefully that's clear. Probably more than you expected.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Random google search.. this is a supercharger. It is installed on the stern side of the engine. Fairly low. For Scarab boats with catalytic converters, they are usually located below the cat which makes them harder to see. You can see the central nut in the middle.

For anybody that doesn't know, superchargers spin at super high rates of speed... and are essentially a fan. They compress air increasing air density. Engines like LOTS of air (really the oxygen) to improve combustion. Compressed air = better burning = more HP. Of course, that air when compressed is also hot. Engines don't like that. So they also cool that compressed air using an intercooler. That produces nicely compressed yet cool air which is fed into the engine and presto, you have up to 325HP on a Rotax engine.

Down side? More maintenance, more parts to break and the big, WAY more gas. A supercharged engine doesn't necessarily burn more gas... but if you're using those extra HP, then it will absolutely burn WAY more gas. Eco mode is your friend there. lol

Note that a supercharger is different from a turbo. Superchargers are powered by the engine itself and can give you instant power. Turbos, often found on cars, use the exhaust gases to spin this type of turbine to produce extra HP. The downside here is there's a lag since it needs exhaust gases to produce that power. But they are generally known to be more reliable/stable. A good thing in cars. But if you talk to the average Sea-Doo-er... man do they like to floor it and race people. Turbos SUCK in that context. No power off the line. But then they realize, damn that super makes you SUCK gas fast. I saw estimates of something like burning the entire tank of gas on a 300HP at full throttle in like 43 min or some nonsense like that.