[tomtyo]

This may not be the right place for a story and if it is not, moderators please place it correctly. I am a proud owner of a 1998 Z244 Jubilee which after running on the Arizona lakes for a summer, decided to take it to San Diego Bay. It was a used boat when I bought it and it had been in salt before so I didn't feel I was violating her too much, but boy was I ever mistaken, read on!

We were with some other friends and at first we just putted around the bay seeing the sights and Sea World from the outside, the fireworks are great at night as they launch them from a platform on the bay. Anyway we decided to go out fishing with the big boys and after getting a couple of big lures and advice on where to go from a local bait shop, the trick is to follow the charter boats just don't get too close, we took off to sea. After leaving out the bay and across the breakers I found the ocean not too bad. We found the charter boats off of La Jolla, land still closely in sight, and we trolled around and caught a few various fish. I then became miserably sea sick from the rolling and we went back.

The next day we did it again, this time with Dramamine, and we took an ice chest with a recirculation pump and on the way out bought some live bait. We were going to really get them this time. How ever after getting off of La Jolla, most of the anchovies were dead and floating, the recirculation pump had battered and churned them to death! While the bait was dead I was feeling great and made a mental note to never go out without motion sickness pills. After a short while we went back to camp, we were at Campland on the Bay. The boat was really great. During the off season I had her serviced and the rear seal replaced and she wasn't leaking a drop, the first time I ever saw the bilge dry! She looked good anchored out in the bay, I had learned from others you never anchor too close to shore or you will find her high and dry during low tide!

So the next day, we went out again and this time there was 4 of us. I rigged the pump so it would bring seawater into the ice chest by placing the pump overboard and putting the hose into the ice chest top and just letting the water overflow off of the back. The ice chest was bungeed onto of the rear platform cushion over the engine. We got to our fishing spot, threw the pump over and pumped fresh sea water through our bait keeping them fresh and lively. We fished and fished and approximately 2 hours later I went to move as we had drifted away from the good spot. The boat seemed sluggish, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to it. After 45 more minutes the bait was about gone and we were ready to go back so I got the ice chest (makeshift bait live well) off the hatch and opened it up to unhook the pump from the batteries when low and behold I find the engine, now running, with water up to the balancer! The guys in front opened the large floor hatch and all of the cushions were floating almost even with the deck, I had a boat full of water! I immediately flipped on the bilge pump and we put the bait pump into the bilge so we had 2 pumps pumping out water as I slowly maneuvered the boat towards the shore. The engine kept running even though water was covering half of it. We kept going and pumping and after about 45 minutes most all of the water was gone. We then got the trailer and flushed it out with fresh water the best we could. We bought salt neutralizer and re-sprayed the engine again hopefully to save it from damage.

Investigation revealed that while the ice chest was receiving sea water and expelling it out the top and over the back I thought, it was running off the back of the cushion and into those large vents cut behind the cushion platform into the engine compartment flooding the bilge! So much for not harming her on my maiden sea voyage! I also found that my bilge pump was not wired to run while the engine was off, had it been so, it would have save me lots of misery and money!

It started and ran the next couple of days; however we didn't go out of the bay again!

When I got her home it sat for a month or so, long enough for the starter to seize from the salt I guess. $450 later she was running again and seemed well.

She sat the winter and the next summer I took her out and she made this awful noise. Grinding and humming especially when turned. Took her in and had the drive removed at the local boat shop and found the u-joints and gimble bearing rusted and shot! The mechanic was perplexed as he said he knew that water had been in the components, yet when he put it in the tank for testing nothing leaked! I couldn't admit what I had done so $2,000 later I got her back with the promise she was fine. He said people will fill there boat with water, usually by not putting in the plug, then drain the hull but not the drive and the water sits in it and rusts. Not only did I get water in it but it was salt water and made a mess!

I am writing this as a cathartic experience as I hope I am safe discussing it with other Mariah owners, whether or not they can relate to this kind of experience, and secondly in hope that by reading what I did will save someone else from making the same plethora of mistakes.

Take care and safe boating,

Tom . . .