First Mariah
 

Hi all, Just bought a new sx18 bowrider still eagerly awaiting it's arrival from USA. Due to Arrive in Sydney Australia on 27 th of November. Looking for any tips on maintenance and overall care for my new toy. Also I will be towing it from Sydney to Cairns which is about 2500 klm so any tips for avioding hull damage would be good ( I don't have a boat cover yet ). My family and I can't wait to show off our new boat on the lake, there will be nothing like it here. :yes_grin:. There is some confusion in Aus about the standard dash instruments on the new model sx18 ( tacho, speed, fuel, ect, doe's anybody know for sure what instuments it comes with standard. Thanks for any help

Congrats!! That'll be 2 of those SX-18's in OZ that we know of. I sent an email to our resident Aussie "Dudders" (who has the other one over in Perth) and hopefully he'll chime in with the info you need.

Thanks mikeyt, can't wait to take my new Mariah for a run I have heard a lot of good things.

Congrats and welcome to the boards! You'll find this place pretty useful for anything you need to know about your new toy! Once you get it, post some pics for us, as most of us over here in the states are winterized, and we all need our boating fix to last us through the cold months. And if you have any questions, by all means, post them, and we'll try to help you!

Thanks Chris, Already getting some replies it's nice to see people still help each other out. I will be on the water by early December and will be glad to post some pics of some summer boating fun from down under.

Gidday Mayal, Welcome to the Forum and thank christ there is another Aussie here. Now we will be able to talk some sense.!! :rolling_laugh:

Thats a bloody long way to tow your boat! There are companies that put on plastic covers to keep stones from chipping the gel coat from your back tyres.
If you ask the dealer I am sure he will get that sorted for you. The boats that arrive here in Perth are just about always totally covered in white plastic, so perhaps yours will too.
As far as the qauges are concerned mine are Fariah ones with Mariah embossed on the speedo and rev counter and look really nice.
I have these gauges fitted as standard on my '06 model - Fuel, Volt meter, Speedo, Compass, Rev counter, Oil Pressure, Engine water temp, and Trim indicator. - Check out the pic I have attached.
2 gauges that are optional extra are the depth gauge and Hour meter.
I recommend getting the depth gauge fitted, with the lakes and rivers around here running aground can be easy to do.
Although with the 'standard' fittings, I am unsure of the new '08 models, I do have the brochure for '07 that was sent to me direct from Mariah in the states, so perhaps you can check with them.
www.mariah-boats.com - you will see my setup on that site too in the owners showcase section.
I know there is another SX18 identical to ours on the Gold Coast, cause when I was over there last year I was sitting at a set of traffic lights when the wife excitedly pointed it out to me. Bugger me if it wasnt the exact same as ours!!:p

When you do pick up your boat the Mercruiser manual says to keep to certain rev limits and speeds etc for the first 20 hours. I hope there will guys here who can let you know if this is correct and whether to strictly adhere to it. (I bought mine with about 35hrs on it so dont know if the previous owner did this or not).

If you are in a lake then your anchor rope shouldnt be fully used, just check to make sure that the end is tied off in the anchor well otherwise you might just loose the lot one day if you are in real deep water. I managed to check mine before making this mistake ( surprise surprise :eek_animated: ) but my mate didnt!!

Have fun with your new boat, and yeah please post some pics for us to enjoy.
I spent 4 or five days on ours over the past 3 weeks, up rivers out on the Mandurah estuary, we also watched the Red Bull Air Race in Perth a couple of weeks ago on it. Last Saturday we went to Fremantle down the Swan River
and went out to lunch, it was fantastic - we had the boat up to 52 mph with 4 people on board, just hammering - awesome :wink_thumbup:
Bayliners are a dime a dozen around here and I like to think of them as the Fords
of the boating world, where as the Mariahs are more like the Ferrari's.
Keep that in mind when people are asking about your new toy. They are as rare
as rocking horse s**t in Oz, and thats how we like it!!

Looking forward to your input on this great forum.

Merria Christmas
 

Thanks Dudders for your reply, Yep will definately have to look into the plastic cover for our new toy cause we don't want any damage before we even have our first ride. :shakehead:
Glad to know other Mariah families in Aus :wink_thumbup: Nicole and I are giving the kids two Christmas's this year, an early xmas for when the Mariah gets home around the week before xmas, Nicole has a corner set up with all our and the kids life jackets, flares, v sheet, even sun screen and zinc wrapped in xmas paper under our 'Christmas oars' decorated like a tree, for the kids to open as an early christmas or as Nicole would say rather than "Merry Christmas" "Merria (Mariah) Christmas", try to send a pic.
We really appreciate your advice keep it coming!
We'll have to make our American Mariah counterparts drool with pics of our warm summer months of boating while they freeze and build snow men:p.:rolling_laugh:
Look forward to photos of your boat and family enjoying it, and to send ours to you guys.:yes_grin:
Catch you soon
Mayal.

Bugger off to both of you with your warm summer weather... ;)

Bloody hell Mikey with your grasp of the Queens english one would believe that you could be either a Pom or and Ocker!!!!
So which is it??????

Gidday Mayal,
What colour scheme and motor did you go with???
I will bet that on that long trip home you will see heaps of places you will want to drop the boat into for a blat. At least with the missus driving you can get the chance to read all the hand books that you will get.
Have a safe trip.
Tony