Hello from Snowy land

Ladybugskater · 03-06-2010, 03:40 AM

Greetings fellow Mariah Owners,
I found this forum via google and I think it's pretty neat.
I own a 1994 205 Davanti. She's Teal and White and my baby.
I have had her since 1998 am her second owner.

I have one question.
I am in need of a new cockpit cover and was wondering if anyone here had any experience(s) ordering one online from an online source. OUr local canvas shops are pretty pricey. And I'm just checking out myother options.
Thanks and have a sunny day filled with lots of great boating memories.

LBS

dlowings · 03-06-2010, 02:10 PM

There are a few online places I've seen. But im not to the point yet where im ready to try them out.. Mine came with a cover as well, and honestly I have yet to put it together... I think the first warm sunny day I im going to drive out to the lake and try to put it up to at least take some pics of the thing.. I just bought my boat, and am kinda picky about getting everything put back to the original, or as close as I can get to that.. I'm the third owner of a 1995 Davanti Z225, that is most likely the same color as yours.. It has a 5.7 Merc in it and right now it is at the shop getting a full on good look. The called me yesterday and said it had the original plugs and wires in it so I said change them out to new.. The day before they finnished a full service on the lower unit, and I suspect if my luck holds out the whole thing should be done by monday.. I have a real good guy working on it and he knows I dont want to run into issues durring the summer so taking a real hard look at it.. As I said im the thrid owner from what I know and one of the past owners was not as picky as I am about up keep. With that said, from the time I've got it "about two months ago till now it has came a long ways to getting back into my 90% range of original and in exelent shape.. If I get it back on monday I have set up an appointment with a guy to come look at my sun deck to fix a small spot that is a small eye sore, after that I think im ready for a REAL lake test.. I'm looking forward to that... Welcome to the forum, hope you have a good time here.

Z 202 · 03-06-2010, 02:57 PM

I don't know of any online place for cockpit covers, and I doubt there any out there, or they'd be in the sticky list.

Besides a cockpit cover is something that you want custom made IMHO. I had to get new custom covers made for my 202 and having a glove like fit is really nice. Off season, most canvas shops will have better prices.

WetWilly · 03-06-2010, 04:20 PM

Hi Ladybugskater and welcome to the forum!

I'm not clear on what you mean by "cockpit" cover. Do you mean a storage cover for the entire boat or just from the windshield back or one for shade when using your Davati on the water, like the one that attaches to the windshield and shades the driver and front passenger seat or a Bimini style?

If you are referring to a storage cover from the windshield to the back of the boat or to replace the original cover that provided shade for the driver and front passenger seats, then Z 202 is spot on. The issue is,if you are replacing an existing cover, you need to insure the snaps on the replacement will line up with the existing snaps on the windshield and/or upper hull and if you're adding a new cover, windshield and/or hull snaps will need to be installed, both mean custom work.

Now if it's a cover to go over the entire boat for general storage, or a Bimini cover, then those are available from most boat shops as well as online and though they don't fit as well as a custom made one they will get the job done at a good price. The key is finding one as close to your hull size for a proper fit. There is a person who lists quite a few storage covers for Mariahs on eBay, but I don't have any experience with their products - click here and for Bimini's you can check on-line with stores like Overtons or West Marine.

Good luck,
WetWilly

Ladybugskater · 03-07-2010, 02:52 PM

Wet Willy-
A "Cockpit cover" is a cover that snaps onto the windshield frame and covers the cockpit area of the boat to keep it dry when you aren't using the boat.
A "bimini top" is a cover that is supported by poles and is tall enough that one can comfortably stand underneath it while under way.

Others- I was just inquiring in case there were other options out there that I wasn't aware of. The currnet "special" price that I have on replacing the cockpit cover is in the $500 price range. I have a few other projects that will need to be done by the same folks so I was hoping for a better price, but haven't gotten one yet. Oh well.

Thanks for the welcome to the board.

It's nice to hang out with other Mariah owners.
How many folks here are from the Northern part of Utah?? And Yes I looked at the map, I just like real folks chiming in.
There's lots of boating forums out there with tons of good information on boating in general. My favorite is boatingabc.com.

Have a pleasant day mateys.

***mikeyt*** · 03-08-2010, 02:45 AM

You will have to forgive Willy.....he's from California.

Z202 is 'spot on' as Willy suggested. I've never seen any on-line sellers of cockpit covers and it is definitely something that will need to be custom made. There are a couple of options with cockpit covers, particularly if you have a bow rider. I had mine done and i had it made so that it snaps down in front of the windshield and my bow cover will attach to it both by snaps, velcro and a zipper. Nice thing about the design is that the water doesn't seep in around the windshield. And $500 isn't out of line.

Ladybugskater · 03-08-2010, 10:47 PM

MikeyT,
It's OK. Well I was goofing around on the computer this weekend and I found a company that has a full storage cover that will fit our Mariah. So I'm thinking that may be the route that I take for now as it's just less than 1/2 the cost of a custom cockpit cover.
We had a racoon that got on the boat a year ago while she was in storage at my friends barn and it did about $2000 + worth of damage to the interior. And I've been trying to save up to get the work done. To add $500 for a cover on top of all that has just been too much.
Anyways thanks everyone for the input. I really appreciate it. And I hope Willy doesn't take me too seriously. I'm not a real "Serious" type person....
LBS