What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Okay so hears my dilemma budget is sitting at $7,000.

Two boats to choose from

1994 Bayliner Capri-w trailer. 150 hours on rebuilt engine with receipts and completely redone interior and wood. Asking price is 6,800. Open Bowrider seats 7 with plenty of storage. New top cover

1992 Mariah Diablo SS. No hour meter but current owner estimates 230. No receipts but hull and motor appear to be in great shape. Minimal tearing on some rear seat cushions but this boat rides outstanding on the water. Asking price is 4,500. No Bimini top


What should I go with if its me and my family of 4? A little input would be helpful, I've only ever owned jetboats

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

What are the length of the boats? What size engine in the boats? Check NADA blue book on both. I can tell you Mariah's will ride better the any Bayliner. Go to the for sale section of the forum and look at the stickies. Remember each mariah was custom ordered and not mass produced like the Bayliner. Everywhere I go people ask about my Mariah (Even Dangling Rope Marine on the middle of Lake Power) not sure you will ever get that with a baylines. The hulls are just great and mine still looks similar to new ones of other brands without the dated look. No promises, but you are starting with a much better boat in Mariah.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Firestone, thanks for the quick feedback.

Mariah 18'3" 4.3 Mer Cruiser
Bayliner 20'. 4.3 Alpha one

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Does the Mariah come with a trailer? How many axles?

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Yes trailer is dual axel and is in perfect shape. Not a scratch on this thing. I honestly don't
Know what he did to keep it so clean but it looks like it just came off the assembly line.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Well duel axles are great for trailering. So glad I have one because they make backing up much easier. So what us your reservations? How do the match up to book pricing?

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

The nada guide had them roughly the same asking price.
My only hangup honestly is will I enjoy this as much as I enjoyed my jetboat (Yamaha ls2000) my old boat ran everything I threw at her and never gave me a problem. Are these easy to maintain with a little mechanical skill? Need something dependable for the family.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Lol. Hope someone else can answer that for you. Just bought mine 3 months ago. Yearly winterizing with oil change. The rest is similar to a car motor. I check the fluids and that's been it so far.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

There is no comparison between a Bayliner and a Mariah. Hold a flashlight inside the hull at night. You will see light through the Bayliner. Just a little biased.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Ended up purchasing the Mariah. Took the kids out on the river today, couldn't have been happier. Absolutely love the boat. Especially the Bimini top.

One question since I'm new to these type of boats, how should I bring my boat on plane. Still trying to get a feel for the trim up and trim down, seems to bog down a little and when I get on plane the trim seems best at about 1/4

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

If I'm not making any sense I can take a video or post some photos

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

You definitely bought the better boat. My 22 talari gets the best speed at about a quarter up. If you watch the speedo you will find where it works best. I have been playing with props and the whale tail on and off and the 19 by 141/2 seems to be the best overall the whale tail I'm not sure yet whether I like it on or off

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

I ditched the tail for smart tabs and had great success. Planes at 14 MPH GPS. Top speed went up 2 mph to 49 with a 14 x 17 SS 4 blade. You made a great choice

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Congrats on your new (to you) Mariah... Hope you have many happy times on the water... Had a feeling you were leaning towards the Mariah.
You'll get used to the trim up/down thing and being "on plane"... Don't sweat it....


1998 202 Shabah 5.0L Alpha 1

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

You picked the right boat no doubt about that. If your 92 hull is very much similar to my final build 2001 of the Diablo at 18'3" it should plane very quickly at under 20 mph with the 4.3 unless it has the wrong prop. It depends on the final drive ratio also but I think mine is 2:1 and I usually use a 19 pitch prop. I've also got and run a 21 (worked out I got both at a steal) if just my wife and I go out to cruise around. And mine is just the 3.0 4 cylinder.

As Firestone said above Smart tabs are excellent for this boat. It will plane quicker and at lower speed, reduce wander at idle speed and reduce most of the bouncing at running speed when trimmed up. I never trim more than about 1/3 the way up on my meter after installing the tabs maybe not even that far. I used to trim to about 1/2 way for cruising but just play with it. You know 1/2 on the meter is really much less than 1/2 also. And all down is best to get up on plane but with the tabs it will still plane quickly if I forget.

Hope you love it. It's more of a grown up boat for relaxing than a thrill machine like a jet or wakeboard boat, but we tossed a lot of young kids around on tubes for years with ours and yet still enjoy that it suits us now that we are more grown up and often just cruise or relax in a cove. And with the 3.0, $20 in gas is good for a long afternoon on the lake.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Took the ball back out on the water today, ran great for about great for about two hours. I think I jarred something loose, get the RPM up around 3000 and it bogs back down between 2000 and 3000 anything over that and it dies, I limped to the dock at about 1500 rpm. All gauges appear to be working motor sounded great, all of a sudden it seems like a serious vacuum leak or its starving for fuel. Any ideas?

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Might as well start with the easy stuff first. Do you know when the fuel filter(s) were last changed? If not start there.
Is your motor carburated or fuel injected? Do you have access to a suitable fuel pressure gauge?

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

This is what I know about the motor.
MerCruiser Alpha One 4.3
262 CID

According to the previous owner everything was gone through. I'm wondering if I knocked something loose. Stupid question but can I start this boat on my trailer or does it need to have water running to it? Kind of hoping it's like a car motor and I can have it running while I troubleshoot/Screw up!!!

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

You need to hook it up to a hose when you run it on the trailer or you will melt the impeller in your water pump. You can buy a pair of muffs at any marine store.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

You can run it on the trailer but you need a motor muff. $13 on amazon. You hook a garden hose to it to keep the engine at the correct temp. If you run it without you will overheat and damage it, like a car with no antifreeze in the radiator.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Do these motors have a idle air control valve?

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Is your motor carburated or injected? If carb then no. If injected then yes.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Oaky so I had a friend go through the carb , he called today with it ready for pickup. Removed about a tablespoon full of sand from the carburetor filter. He suggested that I clean the fuel water separator and lines out, turns out my boat doesn't have a spectator on it. What's the best way to go about cleaning the lines and the sand out of the motor? Please don't tell me I have to remove the fuel tank

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

If the only fuel filter you have is on the carb inlet then you should plan on adding a second pre-filter. It can be a simple see thru inline filter if you have a rubber line leading into the carb. If the line going into the carb is a hard line then you may as well add a water separating fuel filter between the tank and the fuel pump. They are simple enough to add, they often come with a bulkhead mount. This should trap any "sand" before it clogs up your carb. Just change the filter each season or every 50 hrs....just like your oil.


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Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Hudson River Steve, is there a particular inline filter you recommend? I have a metal link going from the fuel pump to the carb with a clear plastic hose as a return line. I have a couple Fram G2's in a box not being used.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Since you have a hard line going from your fuel pump to the carb I wouldn't mess with an inline filter. I would add a water separating fuel filter between the tank and the fuel pump. You can't go wrong with a Sierra 18-7775-1 kit. It has the bracket, filter element and the two pipe plugs. All you need to add are two brass hose barbs to fit the fuel line that you will be cutting into and two good quality stainless steel hose clamps. You can get the barbs and clamps at any home store.
https://www.amazon.com/Sierra-18-777.../dp/B000N9MTFC

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

Hudson River Steve; sounds like a good Saturday project, I'll knock it out this weekend.

Re: What to buy?? Please help me decide
 

A little late but still good .....