Proud Mariah boat owner
 

Owner of a 1995 Mariah Talari 210. I actually live about 6 miles from where these boats were made. I have owned the boat for about 7 years, although due to circumstance it has not seen the water in a couple years. That has since changed and I am excited about getting back out on the water this season. Just wanted to say hello to everyone and I look forward to reading through this great site for some tips and information to get my boat back in tip top condition.

Re: Proud Mariah boat owner
 

Welcome aboard!

Good to hear you are back in the saddle. I go nuts when my boat has been in storage for the 8 months of winter here... I don't know how I'd handle 2 years... :worry_to_laugh:

There's lots of great info on this site. Post up any issues you can't resolve using a search, as there are plenty of helpful folks here too.

Re: Proud Mariah boat owner
 

Welcome to the board Dogloop! That's very cool that you live so close to where the boats were made! From the looks of your boating areas, you boat on the lake where Jimmy Fulks used to live. Were you familiar with Mariah when they were in business? I read they were one of the biggest supporters of the communities of West Frankfort and Benton.

Two years without being on the water? Man, that had to be terrible. It's only been 5 weeks without my boat and it's killing me... :)

So once again, welcome, you've come to the right place to find out everything you need! We've got the friendliest, most helpful and most loyal bunch of members on here. :wink_thumbup:

Re: Proud Mariah boat owner
 

Thanks for the welcome posts. Yeah its been a couple years, working on getting ready to get back out on the lake. Already found a few great tips, we have been cleaning the boat for a couple days now in the evenings after work. The magic Eraser tip is almost to good to be true....wow. The boat is really starting to come around using those things. I do have another issue though, charged the battery and hit the key, but the starter just clicks.....so I have to figure out whats up with that.


As far as living here, yes the Mariah boat factory was a big deal here. After it closed though other boat builders came right in, we have had Crownline in WF for years, although they have recently shut down in the last month. They are trying to sell, hopefully it will, because that has hurt the community as well. Also, we have Bonbardier back in Benton, and there have been a few more come and go. The lake you are referring to is Rend Lake just outside of Benton. This is where everyone boats, its a huge lake and was definitely where Jimmy played. I can get you guys some pictures of the old plant if anyone is interested, not much to see anymore though. Empty buildings, and a few old shells laying around.

Well back to work, I'm sure I'll be asking plenty of questions as I get this thing ready.

Thanks again.

Re: Proud Mariah boat owner
 

Do the easy, inexpensive things first. Check all the connections, from the battery, itself, to the starter relay and the starter. A poor connection anywhere along the line can result in the syptoms you're experiencing. Next: Take the battery to a trustworthy battery place and have them test it. A battery can appear to be charged, but not have any current-supplying potential. If it's neither the connections or battery, then it's your starter relay or starter. My bet would be the relay. It pulls in (the clicking), but the contacts are not passing current to the starter motor. You can test this with a meter. You can also jump the relay terminals to see if it's the starter itself.

Btw: Be careful when messing-about with the starter relay and starter. I don't know about Mariahs, but many, if not most, starting circuits have no fusing. So if something gets itself connected to ground, it could well weld itself in place and you could have a wiring and battery melt-down, perhaps a fire.

Jim

Re: Proud Mariah boat owner
 

Hi - I guess I am reading these posts a little late - by three years or so!

Not sure why I am posting as it's not that important but the lake Jimmy lived on was actually Lake of Egypt though the plant did always use Rend Lake for testing etc.

He had a boat dock at the end of the garden and I seem to remember that Lake of Egypt had a 20' limit on boat lengths. Jimmy's was larger than that... but no-one ever knew as he had the plant rebadge it with the decals from a smaller model!

They were happy days!

Re: Proud Mariah boat owner
 

Never too late for this kind of insight. :wink_thumbup: