One and done...

[Casey_215HO]

Today I'm selling my Scarab after just 1.5 years...

I sucked a ski rope in the starboard motor on July 4th which tore a seal on the impeller shaft and just about sunk the boat. Got it back to the launch and watched the bilge and plug drain water hard for over 15 minutes. The entire hull had filled with water. I decided right then and their that a jet boat isn't for me.

For those of you looking at a Scarab I would avoid the 2014/15 models I had an early 2014 and it's a beautiful, fast, and fun boat but the build quality is suspect. After spending some time with the boat you'll soon realize that these boats were not built to the quality that other boats are and shortcuts were taken. The motors seem to be solid but need a lot of care and feeding (aka maintenance).

I've walked around and peeked inside the latest 2016 models at the dealer and they seem to have addressed a lot of the mistakes make in previous models so maybe Scarab is listening to the forums and customer feedback..? I hope they continue to improve the product and make it work but it's not the boat for me and I'm walking away from a great boat with a lot of small issues.

What I can say to any potential buyers is these boats are not wakeboard boats and don't let anyone fool you otherwise. Slapping a tower and ballast on the boat doesn't change the fact that the twin jet motors put out a horrible wake for boarding and that if a rope even looks a you're boat wrong it will be a total shit show.

Hopefully everyone has a great summer and enjoys their Scarabs I've got a lot of great memories with mine but time to move on.

Casey

 

[Bill D]

Sorry to hear about your troubles @Casey_215HO. Although I haven't had the pleasure of wrapping a rope yet, I've seen some terrible pictures. Good luck with the sale. Post up an ad in the classified section and I'm sure you'll get some interest.

Out of curiosity what do you think your next boat will be?

 

[MrMoose]

Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective @Casey_215HO. It's important that folks understand what they might encounter with these types of boats. I can understand why you are moving on. I've been lucky so far and not sucked up a rope, mostly due to the diligence @Moose jr. has. He does a good job of being aware of ropes and debris around our boat. I'm still torn with the jet boat configuration. I have definitely explored areas with my jet boat that I'd never take a prop into. And while in unfamiliar waters, I've even skipped over a few barely submerged stumps that would have ripped an outdrive right off the boat. But, the fact that I'm driving a garburator is unsettling. In one year of ownership, I've only sucked up one thing that has caused me to limp back. My impeller sliced into a plastic bottle cap and it stuck. I had to pull the boat out and remove my grate to pop it off. But that's a totally different thing than having my boat sink. @Casey_215HO , was your bilge pump running?

 

[funbobby]

Today I'm selling my Scarab after just 1.5 years...

I sucked a ski rope in the starboard motor on July 4th which tore a seal on the impeller shaft and just about sunk the boat.

Casey

@Casey_215HO - sorry about your experience. Just curious - does your impeller shaft have the stationary protective tube around it like my 2016?

 

[Robert Sands]

If it's a 2015 the impeller shaft has the sleeve, but it stops short of the impeller, boot, and seal. My sleeve has saved me a few times.

 

[Julian]

Sorry to hear about your rope experience....sucking things up is a jet issue for sure (regardless what anyone says...a shaft sleeve doesn't prevent a rope from getting wrapped around the sleeve....as @Casey_215HO can attest to).

That said....this isn't just a jet issue:

In fact a single engine wake boat boat with its prop below the boat is just a susceptible to wrapping a rope around the prop as a jet is....and it might not be able to limp back to the dock as they all have only one engine.

 

[itsdgm]

That's a bummer @Casey_215HO sorry to hear about your boat not meeting your expectations. Hopefully your next one will. Good luck with your search.

 

[luanders]

I, unfortunately, have sucked up ropes multiple times and have also wrapped ropes around my props with my stern drives.. It happens if you do watersports and have inexperienced spotters or helpers... Oh well, so swell... Chock it up to a learning experience. Sorry to hear you are selling your Scarab @Casey_215HO I wish you best Of luck!!! I was really close to buying a Tige this past spring. Let us know when/what you buy!

 

[funbobby]

I believe they sell floating tow ropes these days.

 

[McMark]

I've never sucked up a rope but I've had plenty of pieces of wood get jammed in the impeller. One day, after about the 10th stop, I said "never again", but I really like the idea of nothing hanging below the running surface. That's what keeps me in a jet for the moment.

 

[waterboy]

It's a whomever is at the helm issue. We all make mistakes and I've made my fair share for sure...

absolutely... and I am not throwing darts at anyone either. I've done it myself. Caught it quick enough before it got spun on there tight though. I was lucky and it was all my fault.

That is the thing about boating, there are so many distractions. As I teach my daughter to drive the boat, it is so much harder than teaching to drive the car. There are no lanes, and people don;t follow the rules out on the lake. So many distraction, it's easy to suck up a rope or whatever.

 

[702mireles]

I picked my 195 HOI up from the dealer the other day thinking something was wrong. I took it out on Havasu lake and noticed a lot of wood and floating vines in the water. I sucked nothing up thank gosh! I also was around 6500 rpm or more.
Also before being very active on this form. I had my scarab around 9hrs and started wakeboarding with a floating tow rope. I ran it over testing to see if the toe rope would suck in and The rope did not. I also did not read all the issues people have had before that. Lucky me or maybe the 2016 model actually works? @ScarabMike

 

[dustinjean]

i sucked one wakeboard rope into my old yamaha and ruined a few hours of my day undoing it, as we just got there and didnt have a spare rope with us. it is ungodly hard to suck a rope up under an inboard boat as they don't have the suction that a jet does and my ropes all float enough that their a few feet from the prop at all times

 

[dustinjean]

and julian that looks like an anchor rope and looks to be a cabin cruiser as well definitely not a wake boat hull

 

[CaptRob]

Q-as anyone tried putting maybe some type of metal mesh (mosquito netting) on top of the grates? I sucked up a piece of wood the first weekend myself. Wondering if there is a home-made solution that could cut down on items being sucked in.

 

[Ronnie]

The best protection against fouling a jet pump with a line that I have experience with is a rock grate on my Mercury powered jet boats. A rock grate is similar to the fixed intake grates on our boats except it had a lot more tines, 13 I believe as opposed to two to four on tines per grate on Yamaha jet boats. Also the tines were thicker and were much closer together. The one I had did not have enough space between the times for most tow ropes to fit through.

If someone here developed something like it if bet there would be a market for it among all jet boaters not just any specific brand. At least I would be in line to try/buy two. I'd pay more for them if they came with an integrated top loader scoop/ wedge like some aftermarket Pwc intake grates do. How hard would it be to develop a bolt on piece to add more tines inside and outside of the existing times on the stock grate? Is a 3D printed version out of the question?

 

[funbobby]

Q-as anyone tried putting maybe some type of metal mesh (mosquito netting) on top of the grates? I sucked up a piece of wood the first weekend myself. Wondering if there is a home-made solution that could cut down on items being sucked in.

All you would do is starve your pump for water, and possibly your exhaust and intercooler for cooling, and create a clog magnet for any weeds or debris, imho.

The best protection against fouling a jet pump with a line that I have experience with is a rock grate on my Mercury powered jet boats. A rock grate is similar to the fixed intake grates on our boats except it had a lot more tines, 13 I believe as opposed to two to four on tines per grate on Yamaha jet boats. Also the tines were thicker and were much closer together. The one I had did not have enough space between the times for most tow ropes to fit through.

If someone here developed something like it if bet there would be a market for it among all jet boaters not just any specific brand. At least I would be in line to try/buy two. I'd pay more for them if they came with an integrated top loader scoop/ wedge like some aftermarket Pwc intake grates do. How hard would it be to develop a bolt on piece to add more tines inside and outside of the existing times on the stock grate? Is a 3D printed version out of the question?

The entire intake system would have to be designed (like I assume your boats were) with a larger opening to compensate for the reduced flow of more/larger tines. I would personally never retrofit something aftermarket like this.

 

[Ronnie]

The grates I'm referencing, with the possible exception of the surge grate, were manufactured by Mercury and dropped right into the intakes for the Mercury pumps. Size wise their foot print was close to a sheet of binder paper so 8.5" x 11". Yamaha jet boats have a longer thinner intake opening not sure about the new brp powered boats. If someone came up with one I'd give it try especially if I could do so at no cost. The worst that could happen during a short trial is it reduces thrust/ performance and that would likely be discovered immediately. In which case I'd remove it. Someone has to go first.

 

[scokill]

and julian that looks like an anchor rope and looks to be a cabin cruiser as well definitely not a wake boat hull

I helped a guy cut a rope from a recent model wakesetter a couple of years ago....it can and does happen.

 

[dustinjean]

I helped a guy cut a rope from a recent model wakesetter a couple of years ago....it can and does happen.

Oh i know it still happens but the pic above is definitely not a wake boat or a board rope, my new hyperlite rope doesn't sink far enough to get anywhere near my prop though. My wife would literally have to drive clean over the rope to give us a problem but we sucked up ropes in our yamaha multiple times