Some parts impossible to get
 

Hi all,
Well, after a lot of emailing and calling, I've found out that Mariah boat owners (pre 2002) are S.O.L. if looking for any of the dash pieces that Paramount Plastics created for Mariah. I was looking for the black acrylic bezel that surrounds the stereo, some switches, safety cut-off, etc. on my 1994 z212 Shabah The previous owner of this boat cranked down the mounting screws so tight that it cracked the piece.
After calling Paramount Plastics (because they never responded my email) they informed me the Mariah took back all of their materials and tooling in the mid 90's and they have no capability to reproduce any of the parts that they originally made for Mariah Boats. So, i'm resorting to buying a piece of ABS plastic and shaping it myself, then putting the broken pieces on top so that I have the original "warning" labels and such. Anyone else have a better suggestion? Thanks in advance

-Frank

I have been in a similar situation, with my plastic gauge cluster. I paid top dollar to have it repaired and refinished. Whenever I get some free time I will be posting the writeup.

You, however do have a few options. Repairing your panel is possible, contact your local plastic fabrication facility. If you can't find one, contact Stellar Plastics outside of Detroit Michigan. I found them on the web. Be sure to explain the situation to them, and include a few photos in your email.

Option 2 is to create your own, or follow one of our member's solutions. Randy Jobe (rjobe) created a reinforcement panel made from aluminum, and has a writeup on the site. Check the "How-to" section. We also had a member recently reupholster his, which looks pretty nice too.

Option 3 is to locate a replacement. I have seen them show up on ebay from time to time.

Before I had my dash repaired, I contacted Paramount Plastics and got the same answer. After doing my research, Paramount originally made the parts up to about 1994 or so, but Mariah purchased their own equipment to produce the dashes & plastic parts in-house. It was a brilliant plan, and Mariah did this to reduce reliance on outside sources for parts. It eliminated delays and allowed them to become one of the most self-sufficient boat manufacturers in the world. I once heard that 95% of Mariah's boat parts were made in house, with the exception of engines, outdrives, gauges, and lighting fixtures.

Frank-

I had mine reupholstered; check out the projects section and my gallery.

Brent

Thanks Brent,
I want to keep the stock look, so I'm going to reinforce the original acrylic piece with either aluminum or another stronger piece of acrylic as a backer..

-Frank