Value of this Scarab ???

[Checkmate]

A guy I know is selling a boat and I am curious as to the value. The boat is a 1976 Wellcraft Scarab 300 (30 footer)
It has two rebuilt 350 engines. One has 14 hours on it, the other has 17 hours on it. The seats were redone around 99 and the whole boat was rewired within the last 3 years. The engine bay looks immaculate and has a battery disconnect/ selector switch for each engine. Trim tabs were added and the outdrive raise/lowering units were also rebuilt.
All the guages are also new since the engine rebuilds. The boat sits on a 2001 full aluminum tri axle trailer with aluminum rims.
Aslo, the outdrives are 280's. He said they were for big blocks ?? Are they good drives ?
The cons are:
The bow has a crack across part of the top of it, the paint is peeling off in a 2 ft section on the top. And most of the wood looks old.
As I type this I think the boat is well worth more than the 10,000 he will sell it to me for.
All input and any info on this boat appreciated, Thanks
Ohh yeah, he says the boat does a solid 64 mph with the stainless props that are more for bottom end.

[spectras only]

Chekmate, with a scarab that old , you better take an expert with you or better pay a surveyor to look at it. The transoms are prone to rot ,and the stringers have to be looked at closely too.You can check the transom for rot just by grabbing the leg and move it up and down.Believe me it worked for me looking at scarabs and thunderbirds in the past.Be suspicious of boats older than 1990;).If you can get it for 10 K , go ahead .The aluminum trailer is a bonus by itself.

[Checkmate]

So what are the 280 drives and are they any good ? I believe they were mercruisers, but I am not sure, I was paying more attention to the hull at that time.

[full throttle]

Several years back, I had a 79 Scarab 300. Owned it for a few years. Great boat. Ran 70 w/LS-6's, and TRS drives with ballistic props. Paid 15K for it, ran it for a while, and sold it for 22K. Great boat for the money. Good luck.

[Checkmate]

Hey full throttle, can you give me some more info on your 79? Do you know how much it weighed?
Guys, I currently have a 21 ft prop boat and an 18ft jet boat. I know just about everything there is to know about the jets, but when it comes to props, I have little knowledge. What are the TRS drives ? What are the 280's that are on the boat I am looking at?
A guy on another board stated that the 350's would not get me over 50 mph with this boat. If this is true I do not want it, is he just full of it or what ? I have seen other 30 foot boats with dual 350's that are claiming 70 mph. I am not looking to buy a 30 ft slug here. Where can I find info on this boat ?
Also , Full throttle, do you have any pics of your 79?
Thanks again for the help.:confused:

[full throttle]

Checkmate, I am not sure what it weighed, but it was HEAVY! Although, it did handle the rough great. As for the drives, TRS drives are very heavy duty drives that use a borg warner or merc trans II to shift. mine had 280 k-planes. If yours has 280 drives, they are volvo's. Honestly a pair of 350's with volvo drives may give you fair economy, but it will lack in performance. Volvo 280 drives are dependable, but can be hard to find parts and don't have a great prop selection. With a pair of 300 horse small blocks and 280's your probally be in the 55 to 60 range, depending on how much stuff you carry on your boat. For 10K, I would probally do it. Shitcan the big winshield for a small lexan type, (approx $450) fix what needs fix'in, get the HP up with intake, carb/arrestor, exhaust, and good ignition and you will have a great boat for a small price that is not going to continue to depreciate. I'll look for a pic. Good luck.

[Checkmate]

Full throttle.. I hope you do find a pic. Do you happen to know if the 76 would be the same as the 79 you had? The guy who owns this says he thinks they only made this style for 2 years because it was so heavy. He said with the 150 gal tank full it weighs about 7,800 lbs.
I have a lot of input telling me NOT to buy the boat because of the age and the drives, but it's not like I am buying it for 25,000.
The guy who owns it was actually thinking about parting the thing out. He says he already had a guy offering 3,500 for the trailer and that he knows he can make up the other 6,500 with the engines, drives, and other parts without even selling the hull. I don't know how true it is, but I am seriously considering it, especially for the fact that as you stated, how much more can it really depreciate?

[full throttle]

I would guess 7800# is correct. Seems to me that mine w/fuel on trailer was 10K or more. Mine had a very heavy duty trailer with a stairway on the front. When my friends used to drop me in the water, they said the trailer alone pulled harder that their boat and trailer combined. PM me your email and I will try to get you a pic. I'm quite sure the 79 was the same as the 76. 79 was the last year of that style. BUY-IT.

[Checkmate]

I went out to look at the boat again today and noticed that the outdrives say mercruiser on them. I thought the 280 drives were Volvo ? Help me understand this. Thanks

[full throttle]

OK, Here's the deal. My mistake on the Volvo. Volvo is a 290. I did some checking in my Merc manuals and the 280 is the 1976 Mercrusier eng. model. It is a 280HP GM eng. with a TRS-II drive, 1.50 ratio. This is good, cause your prop selection is very good, and you will not hurt a TRS drive w/a small block. Just take care of them with synthetic oil and such because parts can be expensive for these. If this boat has the large 280 K-planes that most did, Its really a goog deal. Sorry for the mislead.

[full throttle]

Checkmate, now that I looked @ your other post, and saw the pics. Yes ,TRS/Merc set-up w/small tabs. If you get this boat, shit-can the old school cleaver props. When I had mine, I was on a very limited budjet. The best prop/bang for the buck was an Attwood Ballastic stainless 3-blade. They made a BIG difference.

[Checkmate]

What exactly is the K plane ? Thanks, Dan