[slacksails]

I have (unfortunately) come into possession of what I think is a 2000 Z252. It was purchased by my brother a several years ago. He has since passed away, and I am attempting to bring it up to sell-able condition for his widow. The HIN is MABxxxxxxxxx. The plate on the throttle housing indicates 252, and it is equipped with most all of the features listed in the brochure for the Z. Anyway, I have several questions for anyone who has an identical boat:

1) After a rain shower, water will continue to weep from the transom drain for many days. The engine bay and bilge are spotlessly clean. The boat has a high quality cover, but rain water still manages to accumulate in the basin in the port side storage locker that is below the windshield. The basin is below floor level, so run-off from the floor in front of the windshield will accumulate in the basin. There are two dime-size holes in the basin pan. One of the hole appears to be filled with foam, but the other is clear down through the foam to the hull. I think the holes in the pan are not intended to be drains, and that water is simply finding its way from the pan to the back. If the holes are not drains, then what is to keep water from stagnating in the pan? Any insight?

2) In that same pan are some sort of plastic brackets that seem to be intended to secure something down to keep it from moving around. The screws holding the brackets to the pan are grossly rusted, which implies that someone may have added the brackets and used inappropriate hardware. Any insight?

3) The flanged pedestal base for the helmsman's seat is less than 10-inches tall, while the port-side one is over 14-inches tall. That doesn't make sense to me that the helmsman's seat cannot be adjusted as high as the other, and if it is adjusted up high enough, it gets really wobbly. Any insight?

4) There is a little toggle switch on the face of the throttle housing. It is marked RUN and OFF. It has been left in the RUN position. We have not tested it. Is this used to shut off the engine?

5) Is there a way to set the ignition timing without the use of the Mercury scan tool?

6) The gold logos on the sides have been scraped and scratched. It is the same "Mariah" logo style that appears at the top of the web page. The overall width is about 33 inches, and the height is 8 1/2 inches. There are no other decorations on either side. Do you know of a source for these decals?

That is all I can think of right now. Any help would be appreciated.

[ShabahZ280]

Our admin MariahMan has a Z252. He should be able to help you answer your specific questions about the model. If he doesn't post on here, drop him a PM and I'm sure he'll be willing to help you out!

I'll answer the questions I can for you.

#4, Yes, that's a kill switch for the engine. Usually there is a red vinyl lanyard attached to it that the driver is supposed to wear, in the event of an accident or a situation where the driver is unable to be close to the wheel, the lanyard flips the switch to OFF and shuts the engine down.

#5, No I don't believe you can do any engine timing modifications without the Mercruiser Diagnostic interface. The late model engines are all computer controlled and can't be modified without that tool. If you're concerned with it's timing, any Mercruiser dealer should have the interface and can check it or modify it for you.

#6, There should be two logos on each side. The gold shield emblem, and then the gold script logo. Yes, you can get replacements. One of our members here purchased all the old Mariah OEM decals from the manufacturer. He sells them here and on ebay. His name is Mike and his email is [email protected]. Make sure and tell him Chris from the Mariah Owners Club sent you.