[nglauer]

I thought I remembered reading a post regarding Cobalt. Did they purchase some of the molds? If so, when and which molds? I just happened to notice a used 96 cobalt 200 for sale locally. Although it isn't a Mariah, it seems very well built. I just wasn't sure if they were comparable to the Mariah's of that time. I see the new Cobalts cost more than my house... so I won't be buying new lol. Just curious if this model is worth giving a further look.

Thanks,
Nick

[cswinings]

Cobalt is definitely a top shelf boat, they are very high quality.

[ShabahZ280]

Cobalt did not purchase any of the Mariah molds. Never heard this before. Sea Fox got all the small ones, and reportedly sold their Mariah line to a Canadian manufacturer, which we can't locate any info on. Our guess is Doral.

Cobalts and Mariah were above average as far as construction and durability. They made (and in cobalt's case, still make) luxurious high end boats, much better than the "industry standards". However, the price will always reflect this.

The only affiliations Mariah ever had was with Crownline and Celebrity Boats. Jimmy Fulks from Mariah and Fred Claxton from Crownline worked together at Celebrity Boats back in the day. They both split and went their separate ways from Celebrity to form their own boat lines, but each of their respective boat companies had tiebacks to the original Celebrity line... Take for example Celebrity's "high end series" were called the "Crown Line", and build quality remained similar to Celebrity's for a while, but Mariah seemed to build a stronger and better boat from the get-go, and only got better over time. But if you look carefully at the hull lines of the late 80's early 90's Celebrity boats, you'll see some incredibly familiar stylings, since Jimmy was the one who played in big part in their design... Mariah and Crownline's factories were also less than 10 miles apart from each other and kept the communities of Benton and West Frankfort thriving for years...

[nglauer]

I thought Cobalt had purchased some of the molds, but I think i'm mixed up - did Challenger buy some? I keep thinking that another manufacturer tried a "twin engine" setup in one of the mid cabin models -

Thanks again! The Cobalt boats seem to have kept the same lines for many years. I've seen a few of them locally along with some Bryants, however the Bryants look kind of aged to me. I still think that the later model Mariah's had the best lines of any boat i've seen yet.

Thanks again! I keep trolling the web and local ads for Mariah's - i've tried to stay and patient as possible so I can find the right boat fairly local. If it takes another year, so be it

Nick

[ShabahZ280]

Yes, Challenger bought the 25ft and up molds. The 245, 250, 252, 272, and 302s were available as their "FPS, Family Performance Series" boats for years. The current owner still has the molds but have been trying to sell or look for a partnership with someone for years.

That's the trick. Just stay patient and don't rush into something and have to settle for something you'll regret.