[kelster1574]

I made the deal today, dropping off the cash and picking the boat up tomorrow or the day after. I picked up a Mariah Diablo in GREAT shape for $5500. I am thinking I did good the thing has all service records, even the motor well is clean and it's been sitting in a warehouse for 2 months. I am looking forward to getting the wife and kids out on it. I think they will enjoy this a little more than my bass boat.....oh yeah, it's a total suprise. They have NO IDEA it's coming home in the next couple of days. I hope to learn a lot from this site, thanks for having me.

[mikeyt]

Welcome aboard Kelster! I suspect the wife & kids will be extremely happy when they see it. What size/year boat did you buy?

[kelster1574]

1991 Diablo - 18' - Mercury Vortex V-6 - I looked at a lot of newer boats that couldn't compare as far as what kind of shape this one is in. It has 204 hours and has been perfectly maintained to factory recomendations. I was told by a third party that anytime anything went wrong or looked like it needed attention it was dealt with ASAP. I am pretty much as happy as I can be without running it with the family in it. It looks great, runs great, now I just have to do my part and keep it that way. I am confident that it will last us until my boys are older (they are 10 and 7 1/2 now). They were just sitting here telling me they wish we had a family boat so they could go tubing.......I told them that one of these days I was going to suprise everyone and bring one home.....yeah right they said. Then the wife called and said she needed a vacation....I told her we needed to hangout at the lake all day and just veg......

[Zackattack]

Thats a great way to get the boys approval. Good luck with the wife!

I too surprised my son with our Mariah(wasn't brave enough to surprise the wife) and will never forget his absolute shaking excitement, it was priceless.

[Dredd]

Very cool surprise! Welcome to the forums.

[m&mmariah]

can you please post some pictures?