[shabah96]

I have had my Mariah Shabah 200LE for a few weeks now and I have a question about keeping the back seats up when looking inside engine bay. It's not a Z edition so it did not come with power lift or any gas struts. My question is was there something that came with the boat to keep it up. When you lift the seats up there are 2 plastic clips underneath but I was told thats where the fixed pole light snaps in when not in use. How where these seats meant to stay up when working inside. From looking at old posts I see that the best thing is to install gas struts but I just wanted to know how it was meant to stay up originally.

thank you

[WetWilly]

Hi shabah96, if you're referring to the large padded hatch behind the rear seats covering the engine, I normally refer to that as the SunPad... anyway, if there wasn't anything installed to keep the Pad open, then the owners had to fend for themselves. Do you have any unexplained holes or brackets back there (possible the previous owner removed something)?

When we bought our Z240, the Pad had only one poorly installed by a previous owner worn-out gas shock so we used a wooden paddle to prop it open, Since then, I've installed two new shocks (click here if you what to read the thread) and no longer need the paddle but we keep it on board as an emergency backup in case of engine trouble

WetWilly

[shabah96]

Yes I'am referring to the large padded hatch behind the rear seats covering the engine but it isn't as big as yours because it has the standard back to back seating with only 2 seats in the back and and the back rests of those 2 seats are attached to the pad. I didn't see any holes or any brackets except for the 2 plastic clips and I thought that like under a hood of a car maybe that's where some kind of a stand went but I was told that's where the fixed pole light snapped in, is that true?
The gas struts you installed, are they just attached to the fiberglass or is there some kind of plate and the screws go through the fiberglass like the cleats and bolt from other side? Thanks WetWilly

[WetWilly]

Hi shabah96, without seeing them, I suspect the clips are as they said, for the rear Nav light. Mine were missing so I added them back to hold our light pole as you can see in the first two pictures.

Each lower strut bracket is attached to the corner with 3 Stainless Steel screws (Course thread, like ones for wood), no plates underneath, but the fiberglass in the corners is quite thick and we haven't had any problems yet. If you plan to install the strut brackets on a flat surface, a rear plate would be a good idea.

If you decide to install struts, before mounting them, check to see if where you plan to attach them is going to cause any interference with the cockpit cover or the light pole stored back there (it would be a real shame to find out after installing the struts that you cant get the cover out because the struts are in the way).

WetWilly

[shabah96]

Thanks for the help WetWilly, I'am going to check this out this weekend and see which installation will work the best.