Undecided. Scarab vs Yamaha.

[JusFlyinBy]

Hey Cruisin, I too was in your shoes just last year. I was looking into a Yamaha for all the same reasons everyone posts here; Reliability and Clean out ports. But my dealership sells Scarab's, Yamaha's and Chaparral's all on the same floor, so it couldn't be easier for me to cross shop. Ultimately I went with Passion over Practicality and took a chance on the Scarab.

In comparison, jumping back and forth from boat to boat, the Yamaha's just didn't do it for me (No offense Yamaha friends). The interiors just felt like moving from a Kia to an Audi, and I was more focused on being comfortable in the boat (and keeping my wife happy and comfortable!). I realize this means nothing when you're stranded on the water broke down in an unreliable boat though, but that was a chance I was willing to take, haha! I just found the storage, layout and options to be more suited for me. Also all the negative posts on here seemed to revolve around the early 195's, so I was hoping they worked out some of the bugs by the time they started pushing out the 215's. Other than my gates falling out of alignment causing too much forward creep in neutral (Fixed under warranty), the boat is holding up good now on it's second year, 45 hours, Knock on wood!

I realize everything above is just subjective, but here's some advice on size. I regularly have 8 people on my 215HO. Even loaded up and a full tank of gas, it moves people the same as if nobody was on it. This thing is quite impressive the way it sh*ts and gets even when loaded down. But 10 gets too crowded for the 21' and even with 8, I sometimes find myself wishing for a 255. Not to mention, the 255 has a head compartment, which can be a huge plus. Interestingly though, I swear the 255 has less storage than a 215, just due to its seating arrangement, so make sure you give that a good look.

But, if the price is just too much for the 255, and you won't often have 8+ people on the boat, I'm quite happy with the 215HO. 8 fit very comfortably and so does all their gear.

You've got a couple years, cross shop, try them all out! Money talks, see which one you can get for the best price

 

[viggen]

A lot can change in the next 2 years so as you know, keep reading here and possibly other forums somyouncanso stay edumaketed

From what I have read it also seems like the majority of scarab's issues were the first hear or two of their boats but as stated... As with any specialty product (boats RV etc) a competent dealership is often times more important then the quality of the product.

If possibly visit some boat shows where all the boats are available to walk through. I believe Glasstron also has a version which might be worth looking into.

Jet boat is the only boat I would want at Indian lake. We had a Chris craft there in the late 90's are tore up the outcries after one summer... We didn't know the lake and rented a camping spot up there.

Rarely do people regret getting to big of a boat... Often times people regret then sell their small boat for the larger one... Thus the buy your last boat first comments.