Buying 1995 Shabah 202 today!
 

Well, after much anticipation I will be purchasing my first boat, 1995 shabah 202 with Mercruiser 5.7L/ alpha 1. Had a mechanic look at it and everything came back clean except for navagation lights (I think it may be the switch) and a faulty water temperature gauge. Oh, and unfortunately one of the original seats has been repaired structurally with steel and screws. The back rest gave way and cracked the plastic. They serve their purpose for now but I would eventually like to replace them. I realize it will be difficult to find original seats so I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on good replacement seats. It's difficult to judge quality and comfort over the internet when shopping for these things.
Also, I am having trouble locating a matching temp gauge (black outside trim ring, black background, white numbering, red needle, to match the rest of the dash instruments). I went on the faria site and several others with no luck. Lots of similar gauges with white needles though, which may have to do.
Anyhow, I greatly appreciate this site and the responses that I have read so far from other posts, and I haven't even bought the boat yet, so thanks in advance for any help in the future.

Javier

Re: Buying 1995 Shabah 202 today!
 

Welcome Javier. Nice choice in your boat, I have the same model and it's awesome!!

It's unlikely you'll find the bucket seats anywhere, as these were originally made in house by Mariah, and are about as rare as hen's teeth. The standard recommendation (if you want to keep the original look) is to have a fiberglass shop (something like an auto body shop that does fiberglass work) make up a new seat shell for you.

Faria offers a limited lifetime warranty on their gauges. You send them your broken gauge and for a $30 fee, they will replace it. There is a link on the Faria site on how to contact them for warranty service.

Re: Buying 1995 Shabah 202 today!
 

Are these seats prone to failure? They struck me as being pretty darn solid. My impression was you'd have to abuse them pretty badly to break them.

Jim

Re: Buying 1995 Shabah 202 today!
 

^ The weak point is the cut out corners where the seat meets the back. Stress on the seat back can cause a crack/break at that location.