I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

I bought my 198 last March. I got a great deal and I knew it just needed some tlc. After a lot of cleaning and polishing it was a great boat last summer. The only thing that bugged me was the green dash and carpet. The finish on the dash was distorted and could use some refinishing and I just couldn't stand the green carpet. The vinyl had quite a few cracks when I pulled it out of storage this year so I decided to freshen up the whole interior. After two months of waiting for the vinyl to get finished at the upholstery shop and the same time frame for me to dye the dashes, replace the carpet and install the sound system, it is finally finished. Well mostly. I still have to rebuild the glove box and cooler doors that had warped wood in them. Attached are some pics of the day I found the boat and what it looks like now.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Man, that came out great! Just curious, was the upholstery shop able to re-create the "Mariah" stitching on your new vinyl or did you do something different there. I'd like to have mine done as well, but I wanted it to look factory. It looks like you did too, because that job looks it just rolled of the line. Nice.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

I actually had a local embroidery shop that does large scale runs, trace the logo off of this site. The attached pic shows the original headrest and a trial run on tan vinyl. I liked the new one a lot more. It just looks more refined than the original. I really wanted a factory look. It isn't cheap, but it really makes a huge difference.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Damn, that looks frickin awesome. Nice job! Glad you decided to restore to OEM style too. I'm jealous...:wink_thumbup:

Care to share how much you spent? It's a common question here on the board when it comes to replacing the vinyl interior.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Alright here is the breakdown:

Vinyl work at upholstery shop - $1600 (He won't do another one of these for less than $2000, now)
Carpet, glue and dye- $250
Custom embroidery - $145
Stereo system - ?
Hours and hours and hours and hours...... of stress worrying about the color combinations and labor taking it all apart and getting it back together - Pricele$$:wink_thumbup:

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Looks like a job well done. Gives me some ideas for our boat.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Very nice!
I have thought about putting subs where you did too. Do you think the vibration is going to be hard on the gauges?

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Frigin awesome! I for one don't think the prices are out of line either. Looks like you got your money's worth and then some.
Well done

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Dredd, I have installed a bunch of systems in wakeboard and ski boats over the years. I have used 15" subs and multiple 12" under the drivers dash and suprisingly I haver never had anybody have any gauge problems. Of course there is one side effect on a Mariah..... I am always driving North!!!!!!!!!!

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Haha, oh well at least you'll have good sound if you get lost. Thanks for the info. There's a lot of room in that area that is currently going to waste on my boat.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Wow :eek_animated::wink_thumbup:! That looks GREAT! Fantastic job! How did you dye the dash?

I recently had the sunpad and bottom of the rear bench seat re-done. I did all the removal and installation, but the upholstry shop did all the stitching, etc. They charged me about $400 and did a great job.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

That is a great job. I have to admit that im jealous. I have alot of work to do to my interior and if it turns out half as good i will be happy

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Just got the matching bimini back from the uphostery shop on Friday. Now it is complete.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

How much did you pay for the bimini? I got a quote from a local shop for $850 for an aluminum bimini with nylon hardware. Outrageous considering what Overtons sells them for.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

It looks amazing, Hyperryd. Any Mariah gets a lot of comments... you might be annoyed at all the comments that baby is bound to draw. :)

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

If you want a custom fitted unit and you want it during the height of the boating season when the shops are generally quite busy, you will have to expect that the price will be high. If you can wait until the fall or winter season when the business slows down, the price usually drops to something more reasonable.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

I got real lucky on my bimini last year. The local marine warehouse was having a "garage sale" of new parts that had been in their warehouse for a long time. The bimini was maroon, but it measured the exact same width as my factory convertible top. I cut 14" off of the mounting bow to lower it as much as possible. I picked it up on for $75 brand new. It worked great for the end of last season. I paid $300 to have it recovered (with the heaviest Sunbrella material I have ever seen), to match my interior. My upholstery guy said he won't normally touch them because they are too easy to sew backwards before you catch it. Luckily he was already doing the rest of my vinyl so I talked him into it. It took over 5 yds of material to cover it and make the boot.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Man That turned out great!!! Good Job

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Just a note, for those in other areas that don't think a bimini to is worth every penny, it was 107 degrees here today. Shade is a priceless commodity sometimes.:way_cool:

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

I just ordered a bimini from Ameri-Brand today. The bimini color of my boat is turquoise in sunbrella fabric which Overtons and the like cant get. Mine came to $500 total shipped which includes the rear support poles and upgrading to Stainless fittings but still keeping the bows Aluminum. Your boat looks great. Nice job with everything.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Haha, I put a sub in a Chaparral I used to have. I loved the compass then all of a sudden I was like WTF???? :confused: It started reading due south. It took me a while to figure out that a meaty sub magnet 18" below it was causing the issue. :D

How the heck did you do the dash recolor?

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Thumbs up:wink_thumbup: . Your hard work paid off!! Enjoy her the rest of the summer!

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Stereoman/Indykoch, I hated the green dashs so I removed them from the boat and used a professional grade flexible plastic coating that I bought from an upholstery supply house. It basically is a heavy duty vinyl dye in a spray can. The hardest step was to get the years of vinyl protectant off of the dash. I had to scrub over and over with a brush to get it out of the grains of the dash before the dye would stick without fisheyes. It was also delicate work as I know if I cracked the dash it is irreplacable. In hindsight I wish I had attempted a little bit of repair work in one corner of my dash that seems to have melted at one point from the previous owner, but I didn't want to cause a bigger mess if it didn't work out. It was a lot of work, but it really fixed what I didn't like in the interior of my boat.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Are you going to refinish the convertible top I see in the first photos?

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Looks Nice. Any tips on removing the dash pieces safely? tools needed? I do not like my Green ones either and plan on spraying them soon. I don't mind the green side panels. I am going replace the green carpet and paint/dye the dash sections. Then probably next year redo the seats white.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Hyperryd,

What color and brand did you use to paint the dash?

Real real nice job BTW.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

The brand is SEM and the color is Light Buckskin. It really is a nice color. It looks even richer in person. Thanks for the compliments everybody. I am very happy with the finished product. I will post some pics of the stereo system in another thread when I get some time.

Boatcrazy, I almost cried when I saw your boat under water. I am a huge fan of red boats, as I have had two of them, and seeing a beautiful one like yours covered in such ugly water was so wrong. I am glad that you decided to rebuild it and in such a passionate way. I watch for your updated pics and I can't wait to see it back on top of the water where it belongs.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Thanks Hyperryd.

I bought the same SEM paint but it was the wrong color. I will go back to the upholstery supply house and see if they have that color you used.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Thanks for sharing the photo's. Well done! I like the color combonations you chose. Hot Looking Boat!

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Dredd,

I have never installed stereo systems and tackled the chore of installing a pair of 10" subs (JBLs) in the identical spot as hyperryd. I have a 2000 202 Shabah and it worked perfect. Granted I spent hours building the fully sealed boxes to fit in the spaces and still be the exact dimensions of airspace within it, etc. etc. I've had mine installed for almost 10 years now and the subs are still kickin' and crazy enough the amps driving it are still working with all the potential vibrations, etc.

I mounted the amps (basic Kenwood's nothing marine) on a seperate board siting between the gunwale and the subwoofer boxes. It's easy to remove that board at your feet and dig around in there......Hope that inspires you and I'd be happy to share tips....but Hperryd might laugh at my tips. :)

Hyperryd,
The boat looks great (stereo, finish out, interior, etc).....

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Did you have to build a box behing the panel you put the subwoofer in? I'm thinking about putting in one 12"sub on passenger side. Wanted to know about soud quality from sub?

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

By the way awesome job on system install, just gave me great ideas for my boat!!!

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Just had a thought , where did you mount your amp???

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

If you happened to have pictures of amp placement , would like to see them..

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Holy multi-post Batman.
Bear in mind; you could use free air subs.


NathanMcMahon - I think I missed your post before. Thanks a lot for the offer!

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Wow!! Really nice, impressive!! Where did you get the carpet? thinking of carpeting mine.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Yes I built sealed sub enclosures behind the factory kickboards. I find sealed enclosures work great on boats because in a sealed box the backpressure controls the cone movement keeping the sub from overexcursion that tends to tear up ported and free air subs. This isn't a problem in cars, because you don't normally have it turned up as loud or as long as an open cabin boat. It is tight behind those boards, but you can build a pretty tall box to help get the airspace needed. If I get a chance I will post some pics of the amp's. They are mounted in the rear storage compartments on the side walls. Luckily Mariahs are so deep they never get wet back there and they are easy to wire to the batteries and onboard charger.

Purple, I got the marine carpet at an upholstery supply house. Laying the carpet is pretty easy, getting the enitre interior out first isn't.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Any pictures would be appreciated!!!!!

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Here are a couple of pics of the amps. I used a couple of used amplifiers that I had, so one fit nicely in one of the rear pockets and one had to mount on the outside. I will probably replace the bass amp with on that is a little bit smaller to match the highs amp and give me a little bit more room in that compartment. The yellow box is the onboard 2-bank charger.

Re: I finally got my new interior finished, well almost.
 

Hyper,

That is one of the most beautiful boats I have ever seen! These Mariahs blow any new boat manufacturer out of the water.

I am installing a new stereo this year. My boat is covered up in the garage, but I was also thinking of installing a 10 or 12" sub under the drivers side like you did. Did you cut a hole there? What is behind it. Is that the front storage bin? Where are your amps located? What do you think of Bazooka tubes, or don't you?

I would like to copy your set up. Thanks in advance for the info.

Danny