[Delgirls-Delights]

Hello thank you for accepting us. We have just bought our first ever boat here in the Uk it’s a Mariah Shabah 180 with a 4.3l V6 TKS Engine. Alpha One Gen 11 OutDrive. We are complete Novices so please be Gentle. We don’t know how to find out the year of boat or spec as was shipped in from Ireland to Gulfstream marine and then sold across to Wales.

[mikeyt]

Welcome! The last two digits of your hull ID (likely on your transom) is the model year of your boat.

What 'specs' are you looking for? I have the same boat and the 180 didn't change much in its lifetime;

[Delgirls-Delights]

Thanks Mikeyt I appreciate the info. The boat had a new engine and OutDrive installed. We thought the Transom serial was actually on this, we have after the US- a 12 character serial on the boat stern however not sure how to decipher the last 4 characters?? The Boat company in Ireland had it as a 99/00 year however it’s not in the brochure for that year so we feel it may be even earlier ie a 97? The hull ID puts it at an 07 if we read the last 2 digits. All confusing but as Novices I’m sure we have plenty to learn.

[mikeyt]

IF the last 2 digits of the Hull ID# are "07" then you have a 2007 Sea-Fox built / Mariah named boat, not an original Mariah built boat. An original Mariah built boat will have a serial# beginning "MAB" then 7 digits and then two additional numbers which represent the model year. For instance, my 1996 is "MAB xxxxxxx 96" . I dont know exactly how the Sea-Fox built Mariah serial#'s were configured. Upload 3-4 good photos of it (front/back/side/interior) and it will be easy to identify.

Edit... it's also possible that Mariah used a slightly different Hull ID numbering system for boats being exported to Europe. I see you are also in the Facebook Mariah owners group. There is an active member there named 'Rance Fulks ' who is the son of the man who owned the original Mariah boat company and Rance also worked at Mariah. He might be able to answer the query about the Hull ID system for Europe.

[Delgirls-Delights]

Thank you for all your help yes our hull id is not MAB it’s XQY then the 7 characters/digits and then ends 07 oh well maybe it will always stay a mystery but we can upload photos soon

[mikeyt]

Try entering your hull id# at this site: https://www.hindecoder.com/


Are you sure about those letters? On the right side of the above link/page there is a spot to enter your boat manufacturer letters. When i enter XQY this is what i get;


XQY Boat Builder Search and Recall results:
The manufacturer identification code (MIC) of your craft identification number (CIN or HIN) is XQY. This MIC (XQY) stands for the company name Quality Boats Inc which is currently Out of Business. This boat manufacturer has other company names (XQY sometimes goes by these name(s) , , , or ).

This company (Quality Boats Inc) is owned by Sylvie Martin and is located at 2309 S Cypress Bend, #112 in Pompano Beach state of Fl. It manufactured this vessel and placed your HIN or CIN on the hull. This Boat maker is not owned by a parent company. Quality Boats Inc has started making boats, yachts and other watercraft as of 6/4/2003 and went out of business on (2/28/2007) in the following country: USA.

The US Coast guard provides this comment about this watercraft manufacturer: Boats Are Strictly For Export To Europe. 2/28/2007 Oob Per Ppg.


From that, your boat is clearly not a Mariah 180 Shabah as the last one rolled off the assembly line in 2001 shortly before Mariah closed their doors for good.

[Delgirls-Delights]

We think it’s been exported in and yes I got the same info when I checked which didn’t make sense why it showed as 07 hence the reason why I joined here to see if I could get further clarity as we think it’s a 97! Hull has the embossed Shabah on it so we fairly certain it is a Mariah as the interior is also all embossed however we wondering if maybe quality boat inc had one sat there from assembly line and then plated it for export when bought?? We know they went out of business feb 07?? Certainly a puzzle trying to solve it. I’ll get photos loaded asap. On another note did the 97 Mariah have any id numbers anywhere else within the boat where we could look, it’s plated as Mariah 181/0 but no further numbers on coastguard plate

[mikeyt]

That is a strange situation but I'm sure that I've read something about Quality Boats Inc & their relationship with Mariah previously in this forum/ I've attached a photo of my Coast Guard plate that shows similar information to yours. It's possible that they bought some of the unfinished hulls from the original Mariah Company when they went bankrupt and eventually kitted them out and sold them on to the Euro market/

The Admin guy (Chris) on the Facebook forum is the same Admin person here but he spends most of his time on the FB group. Perhaps he (or someone else here) knows what that connection was.

[Delgirls-Delights]

Cheers I did try adding photos but not worked it out yet as keeps sending me to input url address. Yes it’s exactly same plate as on mine. We was thinking the same that they bought the hulls then kitted them out n registered them to send to Europe with HIN! Ours is the forest green/cream interior all embossed Mariah and boat hull embossed Shabah Both sides and windows etched 180 which are made by Taylor clear curve. Once I figure out photos I have taken plenty to add to forum

[mikeyt]

Yep, sure looks like an original Mariah 180. Strange about the Hull ID though....