The Mariah Owners Club - Rebuilt my '99 Jubilee

Well, I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I am rebuilding a '99 244 Jubilee. This boat was swamped a couple years ago by the prior owners. It was pulled and engine protection cautions taken and then stored. I just bought it for 2 thousand and am going to rebuild it to NEW condition.

It has the Volvo Penta 7.4GI power plant with the Volvo duo prop stern drive.

Known issues include broken steering wheel, missing seat cushions, windshield, captains chairs, floor hatches, bath lid, and engine cover.

The gelcoat is in very good condition with the exception of the wake tower holes and some minor gouges and scratches.

Last but certainly not least is the electrical which is nearly all bad. Gauges, switches, radios, horn, starter, trim motor, fuel pump & blower all need to be replaced. Most open connections need to be cleaned or replaced. Fortunately the harnesses are in good shape.

So are you worried for me yet? Keep in mind I'm very handy, but not a boat guru.

My biggest worry was the engine. Afterall, no engine = no boat = no fun. :(
After replacing the starter, ignition, battery, and fuel pump, and several smaller items I was able to get the engine started and purring like a not small kitten, I knew I would be ok to go ahead and start working on & buying parts for the rest of the boat.

Trim system was next. Nothing. After a new trim motor, trim switch and some electrical tinkering the trim system was back online.

I then worked on tackling each system one by one. Bilge, blower, lighting, horn, safety switch, steering, etc. Mostly starting with the electrical and resulting in finding and replacing or rebuilding any defects.

During this whole process I have been relying heavily on the Volvo manual, iboats.com, ebay, my local marine supply and this forum.

With all of the major systems up and running I then turned to the cosmetic and aesthetic issues. Gelcoat and buffing, upholstery, windshield, steering wheel, dash, windshield, captains chairs, hatches, sound system and motor cover. Wooo that was a mouthful but even worse to have to tackle.

Of these I was most worried about the windshield as this forum has well documented. I was missing the drivers side of the windshield. I had originally thought that I would have a simple lexan framemess windscreen made for me. While visiting my local marine store I noticed a beautiful windshield on the wall which they were using to display rearview mirrors. It struck me as being the exact shape that I needed, so I inquired. After a few days they called me to say that it was a toyota windshield from their days of dealing w toyotas & that they didn't use them anymore and that they had the entire windshield and I could have it for $500. So I took my boat over to verify fit and it fit like it was custom made for my boat. Happy day indeed!

Finding many of the other items were all interesting but 3 of the major challenges remaining was the upholstery, motor cover and dash.

I had decided to re upholster the entire boat but to save costs I decided to do it myself. I bought an industrial sewing machine and the marine vinyl and thread etc and unpicked (for patterns) the old vinyl and learned the topstitch and double top stitch and redid all the upholstery. That included remaking the bimini cover.

The motor cover I got some help with by having a talented wood worker who works for me in cabinetry help me to make a new one out of plywood and covered it in fiberglass. I also had him help me make an insert to fill a broken corner of the dash. I also made new hickory hatches for the floor and bathroom and a small cover for the horn. Wow, nice upgrades!

While I was already into the dash I went ahead and replaced or rebuilt all switches & replaced all gauges & cleaned or replaced all connectors and fuse boxes.

I also happen to have a vinyl sign cutter and decided to add new decals to the exterior.
I have installed a new JVC radio with Polk speakers and all powered by a JL Audio 5 channel amp.
The bimini and cover all installed with minimal issues.
I also had to drain and replace all fluids and fuel to remove or secure against any water in those systems.

I have been out 4 times so far on test runs and everything seems to have been near perfect so far. The engine is idling a little fast and seems to settle down after warming up. I’ll be looking into that a little.
While out my first time another Mariah boat owner came over to me and asked me how I had a new Mariah due to the company being out of business since ’01. Yep, that was a pretty nice compliment.
All in all it has cost $2k for the boat, $4k in parts & been a full time job for about 3 weeks, and really a lot of fun.
I’ll still be working on a few small items over the next little while like replacing the Lowrance 3500 depth gauge, as well as finding and installing a trim limit system, and also replacing the active anti corrosion system. I would also like to sew up some walls to attach to the bimini to enclose the back half of the boat.
I am uploading some of the before and after photos for everyones enjoyment. So Enjoy!!