1990 boat, how to find number of engine hours?
 

Hi, my friend just bought a 1990 inboard boat and he doesn’t know anything about boats and I know even less. I’ve been crawling the internet trying to find information but am dismayed at the lack of manuals.

First question (the start of many I am sure ) there isn’t a gauge showing the number of hours on the engine, so how do you look it up? Does the tachometer show the number of hundred hours when you turn the key and a flashing Rev light add 500 hours per flash?

I don’t know how many 1990-2007 boats are out there, but I bet people would be willing to buy a manual if someone would put one together. Maybe even start a manual on a site like Fandom (https://www.fandom.com ) that everyone could contribute information to, edit it, correct it and build a solid resource.
Thanks for your help

Re: 1990 boat, how to find number of engine hours?
 

You are asking a really vague question. Boats in general do not have detailed manuals like cars do. Every boat is different and had different options. If it doesn’t have an hour gauge and it is a 1990 (first year of Mariah boats) you probably can’t figure out the hours. Newer engines could be plugged in to find out the hours. I have never owned a boat with an accurate hour gauge anyways so to me that’s really not important. You can use the engine and outdrive serial numbers to find parts… most Mariah boats used either Mercury or Volvo. It’s hard to find actual parts for these boats because Mariah went out of business in 2001 so interior parts are almost impossible to find. This website is not used much anymore, we do have a Facebook group that is pretty active though. It would be helpful to know what the actual boat is you are asking about.

Dan

Re: 1990 boat, how to find number of engine hours?
 

As noted previously, this is a dead forum and there isn't a detailed owners manual similar to a vehicle manual but there is a general manual available along with a few supplements here on this site. Look in the section entitled "Original Mariah Manuals & Supplements". Your "friend's" 1990 Mariah is the original year of a run that lasted from 1990 - 2001 before the company declared bankruptcy. The name was bought by Sea-Fox and that company produced a completely different version of Mariah boats from 2003 to about 2012. eBay and the Mariah Facebook groups are your most likely source for parts if needed although engine & drive parts are still widely available at most marine supply shops.