The Mariah Owners Club - My Mariah Story......

I just found this site and am already planning a couple of add ons to my boat. It has a unique story so I will pass it on.

I had a buddy back in the winter of 2001/2002 that went to a dealer auction with a boat sales buddy of ours. He went with the express purpose to get a decent fishing rig for the new cabin in northern Minnesota. He said it was the usual auction crowd with nothing jumping out at him as a bargain and with a crowd of wholesale dealers there he was convinced wholesale was as low as he could hope for.

Near the intermission break they wheeled in a 2001 Mariah Z21 Jubillee. He said it looked like a barge compared to all of the bass boats that had come across the block. The bleachers emptied and every person in the place but him got up and went for a smoke break.

The auctioneer started at $30,000ish and my buddy almost got up but the auctioneer saw something in his eye and dropped the price quickly to $25,000. My buddy stood up and walked to the front of the boat as the price kept dropping. By the time he reached the stern it had dropped to $18,000. He stuck his head around the corner and raised his paddle. No one even blinked and he bought it right there for $18,000.

He said that he crawled up and it had no seats and the drive was not even fully bolted up. He looked in the engine compartment and saw two props for the Bravo drives and was figuring out if his old cabin jalopy Jeep could pull it. A guy from the auction walked up and gave him two seats and all of the loose hardward and dealer prep gear. He smiled at him and said you stole this one and he was on his way.

He got to his still mostly frozen cabin lake and for kicks tried to back the trailer and boat down the landing and take a look at the logistics of getting it in and out of the lake. He was standing there in about 30 degrees with a new boat and he looked around and said "what the hell did I buy this monster for this puny lake for?"

The next call was to me. "Wanna good deal on a boat?" I said sure and asked what he had. I had three kids 8, 6, and 4....it was time to buy a boat I decided. He said if I came and got it I could have it for what he had into it. I had Catholic guilt so I actually wrote him a check for $18,000.05. He made a nickle!

When I went to hook up to it with my wife he was giggling like a school girl. She spent most of lunch telling him she was not sure she wanted a boat and that she was nervous about the kids and her enjoying it. He opened the hangar door and lo and behold he had named it for us in big bold letters on the transom. The Ouch Miss Kristi was born. Ouch is in all of our group of friends names on our boats. Ouch as it hurts to own one. You can guess that my wife Miss Kristi was not overjoyed to see her name splayed for the boating world to see........

The boat has been great and a family jewel. It did get a cracked block a couple of years back when we went on safari in Africa for 14 days in mid October (yes it gets cold in Minnesota in October). It has pulled many a skier and wake boarder and been trailered to the Mississippi and went under the I35 bridge the week before it collapsed. We have it now slipped on Lake Minnetonka and get to it as much as three soccer players and summer hockey players allow.

It is a 2001 and the story is that it was in the factory when Mariah was closing up shop. When I picked it up from my buddy it needed a full dealer prep and some finishing touches. I don't know how much truth there is in that tale, but I would believe it was one of the last as it is a 2001.

I love a good deal and a good story. The Miss Kristi has been and is both!!

PJJ