Hi all!
It's been a very busy time since purchasing our Mariah! My son and I had quite a time bringing her home. We left at 3:15AM on Tuesday, and didn't pull her into the driveway until 9:40PM on Wednesday!! What a trip - but well worth it! Here's a re-cap of our trip:
Left at 3:15AM on Tuesday and arrived at the owner's home at 12:20PM. Fell in love with her instantly! Spent some time going through the entire boat and got some great tips and such from Dennis, the previous owner. Him and his wife were great people.
Had some electrical issues in getting the trailer hooked up to the boat, and finally left the owner's house around 5:30PM. Then at around 6:15PM or so, as we're driving down the freeway, one of the tires blew!!!! Dennis had warned us that the tires were around 4 years old, but we both agreed that she should make the trip home because at least visually, the tires looks good.
When the tow truck came out, two of the lug nut bolts snapped, and a third one stripped. Ended up having to put her on a flat bed truck and towed to a nearby tire store where my son and I stayed for the night.
In the morning when the tire store opened, we purchased all new tires, then took her over to another shop to have the lug nut bolts replaced, and had the entire trailer inspected. We were finally ready to head home around 12:30PM, and pulled her into the driveway at 9:40PM Wednesday night.
Though it was a very challenging trip, I kept thinking "it is worth it!".
Since bringing her home, I've been very busy in getting her ready. Because of what had happened with the trailer (which I love just as much as the boat), I wanted to go through and replace things like the oil and filters. Detailed the boat, both inside and out - top to bottom - bow to stern, and getting all the safety stuff installed and making sure I had a home for all the tools and gear that I will need to have on the boat.
I was so excited while getting her ready, that I even came up with some additional side projects along the way. The first one was making some custom wheel chocks that match the boat and trailer - including the Mariah logo and pin striping! I'll get some pictures of these uploaded soon. The second mini project was creating a secondary prop base that I have stored in the dry storage area of the back engine. This little thing, of course matches the boat
, let's me have a spare prop on board in the event something happens, and it's neatly tucked away and secure so I never have to remind myself "did I put the spare prop in the boat?".
We had our first voyage on September 19th, 2009. Myself and three of my sons, along with a good friend of ours, went to Don Pedro and spent an entire 8 hours on the water! We left at 6:15AM and did not get home until 12:15AM!!! She ran better then she looks, I was really really impressed! Our friend gave us several tips on launching and recovery, and also taught us how to ski!!!! It was an awesome day!!!!
Our next trip with be a half day trip on the 26th to Lake Anderson. Going to take my brother-in-law and his son out for a half day of tubing. Then, we're heading back to Don Pedro for a full weekend of fun on October 2nd through the 4th. Can't wait for this one!!!!
I'll be posting more images and updates now that things have settled down.
Happy boating!
Dave Myers
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