Not a lot of action on here…

[olyscarab]

…or anywhere for that matter regarding Scarab. Why is it I can’t find more than a couple videos on YouTube or a couple threads on an obscure forum about these boats? And most videos are walkthroughs by dealers selling a boat off their showroom. I have yet to see a 195 300hp video of it on the water. Or find a forum with a post within the last week or month. I found a Facebook page that has good Scarab content started by a dealer.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

We're a relatively small group (Scarab owners that is)? That Facebook group is the most active by far. People seem to prefer Facebook to do this kind of thing, sadly/not sadly it means that searching for that content has to be done inside of Facebook. And their search isn't exactly the best.

The Facebook group has its place and this forum has its place. I prefer Facebook for sharing fun photos and such, but much prefer the forum for documenting and searching through troubleshooting. Facebook search sucks big time to find that content. It is controlled by that dealer, but he does allow problem discussions and such. Just not brand bashing (and I agree with him on that, no matter the brand).

 

[olyscarab]

Bummer and I agree, pics and vids are great on that Facebook page. I have a 195 on order and want to see what I’m getting myself into; both great and not so good. Coming from lifetime of Sea Doo I was spoiled on Greenhulk.net where they have a huge forum for not just all PWC, but Yamaha and Sea Doo sport boat. I’m trying to rally them to add a Scarab Sport Boat section. I’ve always modified my Sea Doo and I know there’s less options for this in Scarab, but Riva Racing already confirmed with me that their Speed Control Override Module works on the 300 Scarab boats. Best $200 I ever spent on a mod. Yet can’t find anyone who’s done it on their Scarab. What about cold air intakes or straight thru exhaust? I can appreciate deciphering fault codes and hearing stories about O2 sensors and stuff that gets sucked up in the pump, but where are the mods and pics of cool stuff? Lol

 

[blthlt]

Bummer and I agree, pics and vids are great on that Facebook page. I have a 195 on order and want to see what I’m getting myself into; both great and not so good. Coming from lifetime of Sea Doo I was spoiled on Greenhulk.net where they have a huge forum for not just all PWC, but Yamaha and Sea Doo sport boat. I’m trying to rally them to add a Scarab Sport Boat section. I’ve always modified my Sea Doo and I know there’s less options for this in Scarab, but Riva Racing already confirmed with me that their Speed Control Override Module works on the 300 Scarab boats. Best $200 I ever spent on a mod. Yet can’t find anyone who’s done it on their Scarab. What about cold air intakes or straight thru exhaust? I can appreciate deciphering fault codes and hearing stories about O2 sensors and stuff that gets sucked up in the pump, but where are the mods and pics of cool stuff? Lol

I think you'll find that more people are prone to modifying a 10k PWC than their 50k + boats.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Ah, I saw your posts on this. Yeah, I've never seen anybody add these on. So you'll be the guinea pig on that one. Keep in mind, the 300HP option is fairly new.

Very few have done extensive mods. A lot of people presumably don't want to mess with their expensive, still under warranty boat. Again, Scarab is a pretty new brand, many owners are still under warranties. I suspect those people won't be messing around with mods. In my case, my warranty is long gone, I just don't care about the extra power. I'm a "family boater". I purposefully bought the low power 150HP option on my little 165.

The one nice thing is that the motors are made by BRP. So many, many Sea-Doo options will work on these. The problem is that you'll find very little to confirm this since again, almost nobody has done it. And even less have publicly posted it.

Also, from what I've seen, many have made some sort of mod with little to no benefit. In many cases, it just changes one thing for the better at the expense of something else. So some for example change the impeller to get better hole shot, but then aren't as efficient on gas. Or better top speed, but less hole shot. lol Tradeoffs I suppose. Depends on what you value.

I can tell you on the naturally aspirated engine like mine, cold air intake definitely makes a difference. But not huge. On a cold day, I'll get about 42mph but on a warm day about 38mph. I just don't know how that translates to the supercharged engines. But yes, airflow is good, just not sure you'll notice any significant improvement. You may be better off to lay off the beer and save on weight. lol

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

I should add, there's ONE guy who did post quite a bit. Ramses Betancourt on Facebook. Search that Facebook group for him. You'll find a lot of mods. Sadly he doesn't really document much... and performance improvements are almost all anecdotal. I'm not saying he didn't improve stuff... he may very well have. But there are very few actual numbers to confirm this. But worth looking him up. He also doesn't respond to many questions...

 

[olyscarab]

Totally understand about the warranty issue and I am the same way. None of the mods I did voided the Rotax warranty. The SCOM is a piggyback and dimes to void warranty. Only removes the ECU’s Coast Guard limiter on that engine from the 70mph limit to 74-75 all day. Obviously wouldn’t see that on a Scarab, but what would it do? Figured for $200 and no warranty issues someone would have tried it and it’s been out since the 300 engine was developed. I also see there’s an open K&N style air filter on the 300 and it appears to sit on top of the valve cover? Riva has a stick on heat shield for $18 that should drop the temp a little. Again, $18, stick on, no warranty issues. Has anyone seen this or tried it? Seems most have lost mph because of air temp.

 

[olyscarab]

Hey, I’m just excited about getting this boat and want to see and hear about everyone else’s excitement. I mean these are great and fun boats, right? I feel like I’m a cheerleader or forum hype man. Lol

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Nope. Nobody I've seen has done or applied any of these. Even if it doesn't void the warranty, people don't know that. Case and point, here in Canada, there are laws that prevent any car manufacturer to void a warranty by taking your car to a different garage or even doing the work yourself (oil changes included), as long as you have proof that it was done. Yet, the vast majority of people don't know this and keep going to the dealer "so they don't lose their warranty". :S

If you do any of these mods, then be the first to share your results!

 

[olyscarab]

I will definitely share my mods. Sadly it looks like September (at best) when I may see the boat. Here in the Pacific Northwest that is the end of summer.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

end of summer.

Ottawa, Canada. I hear ya. lol

 

[josh195]

When I was looking into buying mine I was a little put off by the lack of information and dealer support out there. But I figure that given the motor similarities between the scarabs and seadoos I could figure out how to do most repairs.

 

[Winerocks]

I spend as much if not more time on Seadoo forums than I do here. Any Scarab-specific issues are really just general boat/hull issues. All the engine, jet pump and most electronic issues are BRP/Rotax, and are identical to those experienced with Seadoo; later boats and skis.

 

[Julian]

At one point @Bruce was looking into importing the content from a Seadoo forum here (as it wasn't very active and the owner was somewhat interested in moving to a modern tech forum like ours).....not sure where that landed....

That said....the more you guys document and pull people onto the forum, the more material we'll gather! We are happy to have more Scarab and BRP members!

 

[olyscarab]

Well Riva Racing confirmed today that they don’t have any data for the SCOM in a Scarab application.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

This is generally the thing. lol New engines, new boats, very little to go on. Everybody who wants to do mods has to be willing to be the "first". That's a tough sell for many with a brand new, expensive boat. Hence, very little on the web on this stuff from owners and even less from companies.

When I got my boat in 2017 (and others even earlier), there was ZERO info anywhere on anything. Now in 2021, there's slightly more that zero. lol When I call dealerships around my area, very few even know of the brand. It's apparently growing, but more in some regions than others.

 

[Mike Blackburn]

Hello all, just joined here as mentioned earlier it seems Scarab content is surprisingly lacking online and Facebook is a virus I'd rather stay away from. I'm a brand new 215 owner, only been out 4 times so far, so I'm a total noob.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Welcome @Mike Blackburn !

Well, as much as the forum isn't as active as Facebook, it stall has plenty to offer. If you have noob questions, feel free to send them to me directly or of course, publicly. Happy to help.

 

[Mike Blackburn]

Hi Luc! Pleasure to be here, I much prefer a forum to Facebook. What's the deal with the drain lines in the rear wet locker on the transom of the 215? Those things never drain properly and that locker is constantly full of water.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

lol Yep. Jet boats are much lighter in the rear because of the engine size. It means that they sit much higher in the stern than other boats. This also means that things don't drain well towards the back. The low point is therefore in the ski locker. On top of that, for whatever reason, Scarab decided to put the drain holes on the vertical walls (at least in my boat). Which means, there's ALWAYS some water that won't drain. No way around it.

The only tips I have, drive at the speed that makes your boat tip towards the stern as much as possible to remove as much water as possible. The rest has to be drained via bucket, sponge, towel... if you have a hose, some use the hose pressure to push the water in the drain holes as much as possible.

But yeah, no good solution on that one exists. You have to live with some water in there unless you're obsessed in removing it via manual methods.

If Scarab had put the drain holes on the floors at least, that would have helped. But in the ski locker, there isn't much vertical play to allow that. The would have had to make the ski locker shallower to allow fo this and of course, then people would complain about the lack of volume available.

And yes, I much prefer forums for the majority of this stuff.