1996 Shabah 180, new to me
 

Hi,

We have owned this boat for 2 years - it is in need of MAJOR TLC, as it had been stolen from a boatyard and completely stripped. After seeing how nice other Mariah boats from the 90s that have been lovingly maintained, I want to transition from griping about the boat and its shortcomings, so actually trying to restore it as much as possible and get it shining and nice.

We have it moored on Skaneateles lake, so it takes somewhat of a beating being in the water all season.

Are there any other owners of this model and year who can give me some valuable insight on this boat?

Thanx in advance for your replies,
Jan

hi Jan

Recvd & responded to your emails. It will be 'difficult' at best to restore the boat to it's original condition. Most quality marine ulpholstery shops can duplicate the style etc of the original seating but what they cannot likely do is duplicate the name sewn into the seats. But quality costs $$$ so you will have to shop around. My boat is already asleep for the season but i plan on having the rear seat cushions re-upholstered this winter so i pulled them out of the boat. I'll post once i have a price and a couple of before / after pics. Recarpeting the boat isn't a difficult job. It just means removing the seating & the engine cover so everything is open and accessible. I did that job on my prior boat (a Stingray) and it made a huge improvement in the looks dept so it's a project of mine for next year. Some of the other threads have talked about using Mr. Clean scrub pads to clean the vinyl etc and they are great! Some of us never realized how 'white' our seats & panels were until we used them. :rolleyes:
As i mentioned in my email, finding original Mariah parts is very difficult but if there is something specific you're looking for, post it here. You never know what some of us have hoarded over the years. Another option is doing a search on E-Bay under the Motors section. Just enter "Mariah" and you can see what may be available and although there usually isn't a lot, every once in a while some used items or even NOS items come available.

Mike,

thanks for your reply. I'm going to try and find things using the 'Net, and if all else fails, contact an upholsterer to do the seats. I may be contacting you for specs on the seats, etc. if you don't mind. When my boat comes back from winterizing, I'll take some pics so you can see its condition.

Jan