2016 Scarab 165 purchase questions

[coffeegrinds]

Im about to pull the trigger on a 2016 Scarab 165 but the only thing holding me back is the intake issues. I live on a small canal in Miami with shallow waters that have alot of debris in the water. I am limited to the kind of boat i can get given the low bridge 4'ft clearance and shallow waters at 15'' at the lowest.
The scarab really fit the bill but i am worried about the intake issues.

I dont mind cleaning out once in a while but i don't think it will be worth it to clean out the intake every time i take the boat out.

I love this boat and it would be amazing to have but to pull the trigger on $10k used boat is alot for me.

Also not sure how the current 2016 scarab boats are holding out, i heard they don't last more than 10 years without a major engine overhaul

Would love to hear any thoughts on others experience!

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Yeah, hard to gauge how much that debris may be an issue. I definitely would have my doubts of any jet boat in that case. How many PWCs run there? If there are many, then whatever they experience will be the same for you. Not difference. They have the identical design intake grate/impeller. You can even speak to local PWC owners and see what their experience is like. I would take a few minutes to buy someone a beer/coffee to ask about it before dishing out a bunch of cash on this boat.

I love my 165. But jet boats aren't the best boats for all places. Make sure on that before you buy it.

As for engine wear... the engines last a long time if you maintain them properly. My boat is a 2015 150HP. Over 275h now. She purrs like a kitten. Still on the original wear ring and impeller. Starts up right away every time, spring included after I winterize her (I'm in Canada). I still get the top speed just fine. There is no indication of any issues or damage anywhere. But DO THE MAINTENANCE! lol So many owners don't or abuse their boats and wonder why their boats didn't make it to 10 years. Heck, 1 year...

If you do pull the trigger on the 165, there's a wealth of knowledge here including myself with the same boat.

 

[coffeegrinds]

There are about 40 jet ski owners in the canal community and ONE other Scarab 165 owner so i think its not as bad as I'm imagining. I'll definitely reach out to them to hear their experiences. Also, i notice the other scarab owner keeps his boat on a floating doc designed for a jet ski. Is this recommended? Id love to save some $$$ if that dock can handle it.

Thanks , yea this community seems really supportive with great insight, looking forward to joining the scarab club haha. Will keep you all posted.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Sounds like it would be fine. But I'd still speak to the 165 owner if you can and a few skis.

My 165 lives on a lake floating all summer. Depending on traffic, get some dock whips or something. But yeah, the lift isn't necessary. Just keep her water tight.

 

[FiftyYardFistFight]

Things I've learned on this forum and with my first Seadoo were, even though the boat only has a foot of draft, it is a vacuum for 3' of depth so consider that the absolute minimum required depth. 15" is not on.

While we were on the topic, Luc or anyone...has anyone mounted a depth finder or some combo depth/fish/gps rig on a 165? This boat has beautiful minimalist helm set up, and I'd like the utility but haven't figured out how this would be best mounted without sticking out and being in the way or looking ugly. I'd love to see what others have done here.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Vexilar SonarPhone - Products

Use patented Wi-Fi technology to turn your iPhone or Android into one of the most reliable and efficient sonar scanning devices on the market.

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I got this installed. It allows you to use a phone or tablet as the screen. My phone is mounted by the dash and pretty minimilist. But you can also have a second screen like a tablet for a bigger display.

The device has weird quirks though. You constantly have to type in the password to reconnect the wifi signal which I find annoying as hell. The other big issue for myself is that on my phone at least, when I connect to it, my phone thinks that internet MUST go through wifi. So it disables all internet services and I can't get any emails, etc. while I'm connected. I've tried everything to solve that issue, but it isn't currently possible on a stock Android Pixel phone. iOS or other phones may be ok, but I'd check that before buying by connecting to a router that has no internet connected to it. See if your internet still works.

And yeah, 3' is considered the depth required to run the engine. From experience, depending on the bottom, you can run in less than that as long as you are constantly moving forward so that it doesn't have a chance to produce a little suction tornado underneath. But of course, I won't recommend it! lol

 

[FiftyYardFistFight]

Thanks Luc

I also have a Pixel (7 if that matters). I wonder if any glitches may be because your phone is more updated than the device, ie on the website it is compatible with Ios 4.3 or Android 2.0. I'm on Android 14.0.

I love how clean this could be, and will think about it. I wonder if the company would consider updating their product?

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

The device itself is definitely in need of an update. Wifi signals typically reconnect automatically once they are on. That's definitely not a Pixel issue. It is technically compatible and works. Just not super well. The lack of internet though is a Pixel stock Android issue. In my quest researching this, supposedly some Samsung devices with One UI could do this. I've been hoping for years that Android would address this issue, but still hasn't happened. Although I haven't tried since last summer.

 

[FunTech4Real]

Luc - what do you consider abusing the boat? I have a year old Axis T220 with 240 hours on it (yeh I pretty much live on the water) and its broken all the time. Tons of engine issues, and the dealer told me after owning it for a year that I should never drive full throttle for more than a couple minutes at a time. They told me this after driving full throttle for at least 10 minutes straight on maybe 50 different occasions. I also have two seadoo spark trixx 3 seaters (2022) with 200 hrs on each. We drive these full throttle 80% of the time we are riding them. I've rode full throttle for an hour straight on my sparks on at least 100 separate occasions. I've had almost zero issues with the jetskis.

One of the main reasons I want a Scarab 165 is because there are amazing springs about 60 miles from my dock in my back yard. Riding there on skis is fun but its hard to bring enough gear and people. Riding there at 30 MPH on a wake surfing boat takes too long, so I would like to hop in a 165S and ride there at top speed (I don't care about burning gas). Is the engine going to fall apart if I ride full throttle for a long time?

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Sea-Doo/Rotax engines are designed for top speed. But like any engine, the more you do, the more wear and tear you put on it and especially the supercharger. If you're going to ride it hard a lot, you MUST stay on top of maintenance. At a minimum, you need to follow the inspections and recommendations of the BRP manual (not Scarab's manual). I'd go and check things even more frequently if you do run it 100% throttle a lot. Sparks or other smaller PWC don't have a 300HP engine. No supercharger, lower engine HP, etc. If you run those at 100%, they just don't work as hard. So there are less issues with running 100%.

This is my opinion of course. Personally, I don't recommend full throttle all the time. Use it when it's needed and don't otherwise. I wouldn't shy away from using it for more than a couple of minutes... but you're saving very little time overall vs. running at say 80%. In the case of the 300HP, 100%=56mph, 80% = 44.8mph. But if you do want to run it hard all the time, go above and beyond the required maintenance.

 

[FunTech4Real]

thank you Luc. The full throttle is just as much about fun as it is about saving time