[jmorgan]

I just cant get photos right in this forum! Sorry. Here s a link to them.

Webshots Rides offers thousands of the best car wallpapers.

The last 3 photos.
Jim

[Zins]

Sharp boat! wake tower looks great on it! I can't help with the water problem, but in looking at your pictures, if you need a source for new foam for your windshield, one of our members shared a seller on Ebay that sell a great replacement for 20 bucks.

[DCB_MINDED]

You guys are awesome! I am finally off work tomorrow, and I will check it out to see if I can get some better pics of it.... This is driving me crazy, and I need to get that water out of there so that it doesnt sit all winter!

[jmorgan]

Zins,
Bought the foam a couple of weeks ago from e-bay.
Jim

[ShabahZ250]

jmorgan, great pics, thanks! and I agree, sharp boat!

DCB_Minded, I'd like to see a pic of your bilge, if you can. Since your boat is a newer model than jmorgans, it should have the integrated stringer system (which they started using 7/20/97 for the '98 model year and continued through the end). I did some research through all the brochures and found that the integrated stringer system has some interesting claims:

#7. The entire boat is designed to quickly drain all water to the bilge.
#8. A perfectly clean and neatly organized engine compartment which is also fully glass lined, providing greater safety from bilge debris, aiding in the identification of fluid loss, and easier cleaning.
#10 The fuel tank is safely mounted inside it's own sealed fiberglass cavity, tooled exactly to fit the tank's dimensions, eliminating movement, or the loss of support and integrity experienced in conventional boat construction methods.

There's a pic in the 2001 brochure which shows an upside down version of the integrated stringer top half system. It's an awful resolution, I know (i'll try and find the high res version) Keep in mind, this would get flipped upside down, inserted into a blank fiberglass lined hull, then sealed and bonded to form a finished bottom half. Maybe it's just my eyes playing tricks on me, but doesn't it look like the fiberglass lined engine area doesn't extend as deep as the fuel cell cavity? I wonder if this is where they get the claim about bilge debris safety, because the integrated stringer system doesn't fully go into the full bottom of the bilge area of the hull?

[Zackattack]

Originally Posted by ShabahZ250

jmorgan, great pics, thanks! and I agree, sharp boat!

DCB_Minded, I'd like to see a pic of your bilge, if you can. Since your boat is a newer model than jmorgans, it should have the integrated stringer system (which they started using 7/20/97 for the '98 model year and continued through the end). I did some research through all the brochures and found that the integrated stringer system has some interesting claims:

#7. The entire boat is designed to quickly drain all water to the bilge.
#8. A perfectly clean and neatly organized engine compartment which is also fully glass lined, providing greater safety from bilge debris, aiding in the identification of fluid loss, and easier cleaning.
#10 The fuel tank is safely mounted inside it's own sealed fiberglass cavity, tooled exactly to fit the tank's dimensions, eliminating movement, or the loss of support and integrity experienced in conventional boat construction methods.

There's a pic in the 2001 brochure which shows an upside down version of the integrated stringer top half system. It's an awful resolution, I know (i'll try and find the high res version) Keep in mind, this would get flipped upside down, inserted into a blank fiberglass lined hull, then sealed and bonded to form a finished bottom half. Maybe it's just my eyes playing tricks on me, but doesn't it look like the fiberglass lined engine area doesn't extend as deep as the fuel cell cavity? I wonder if this is where they get the claim about bilge debris safety, because the integrated stringer system doesn't fully go into the full bottom of the bilge area of the hull?

Nice research! I wish we could all just meet up at this boat and figure it out.

[DCB_MINDED]

Alright, after getting under there with my camera taking some pictures, I learned 2 things. I need to clean out my bilge, and I think someone drilled a drain hole on the wrong side of the integrated stringer system that ShabahZ is talking about. (yes it looks to me like my boat has it) You are also correct in your assumption that the engine bilge is not as deep as the fuel tank bilge.... My water seems to be draining under the engine bilge area, instead of coming into it. Keep in mind that my engine area is where my bilge pump and drain hole are.

[DCB_MINDED]

Well folks, SUCCESS!!!! It looks like the hole was never cut in the engine bilge area for the pump to go down in. (see ShabahX250's pic) It took a lot of courage to drill a hole in my floor for fear of being wrong, and drilling right through the bottom of the boat, but I drilled about a 1/4" hole, and water started pouring up through it. So, once I get all the water drained out, I'll cut me about a 5" circle, and re-mount my bilge pump in there. Thanks for all the help guys!

P.S. I wonder why Mariah never cut the hole in the first place....

[ShabahZ250]

Glad you were able to find the problem!! It's bizarre that it wasn't cut out at the factory. But, perhaps it was an oversight, or maybe your boat was one of the ones built for a dealer meeting/boat show, and just never got the bilge plug installed completely. Or maybe it was a prototype or something? Who knows.... One things for sure, it's good you found the solution. The thing to keep in mind, these boats were all made primarily by hand, so there's bound to be a few mistakes here and there, we're all human! Mariah wasn't like those other manufacturers that shot out 50 boats a day made by robots.

[DCB_MINDED]

Originally Posted by ShabahZ250

Glad you were able to find the problem!! It's bizarre that it wasn't cut out at the factory. But, perhaps it was an oversight, or maybe your boat was one of the ones built for a dealer meeting/boat show, and just never got the bilge plug installed completely. Or maybe it was a prototype or something? Who knows.... One things for sure, it's good you found the solution. The thing to keep in mind, these boats were all made primarily by hand, so there's bound to be a few mistakes here and there, we're all human! Mariah wasn't like those other manufacturers that shot out 50 boats a day made by robots.

Thats true, No one is perfect. You would think the bilge pump install guy would have noticed he wasnt installing the pump in the hole though. Who knows! I'm just glad I found the solution and got the water out. I'm sure it wasn't good for the boat over all these years.... not to mention the extra couple of hundred pounds I've been carrying around all last summer. Once again, THANK YOU GUYS for the opinions/pics/advice. I'm looking forward to starting a few projects on the ole girl and spending some time on the lake!