[rock doc]

After lurking on this site for months I decided to register. Looking for a little advice about the model noted above. We currently have a 1990 larson with a 2 barrel 4.3l and alpha 1 drive. The larson was a good first boat but it is underpowered for us and the local waters can get choppy. We need a family boat that can pull a skier and, if possible, occasionally overnight with my wife and 2 kids. We typically have 2-4 adults and 2-4 children on board. I was originally looking at boats in the 21-23' range with a 5.7l because we do spend a couple hours skiing and tubing during each outing and I don't mind sleeping in up top in the cockpit.

I am guilty of stumbling across what appears to be a good deal on a 1999 Mariah Shabah z250 and not sticking to my original purchasing criteria. Most of the boats I have seen in my price range have not been fuel injected. There are only 264 hours on the boat. I am concerned that the wake will be too big for skiing and the gas consumption will be much worse (i.e. > 25% more fuel) than our larson when cruising at 25-30mph. Fuel costs about $1.50/l for supreme. I will say the motor sure does look a lot more accessible compared to the doghouse around 4.3l on our current boat - what a nightmare!

sorry if this topic has been beat to death. I know every boat is a compromise. One thing is for sure - Mariah sure make pretty boats.

[mikeyt]

Welcome aboard! I'll leave this one for our Admin (ShabahZ280) to respond to since he owned that same boat.

[rock doc]

Thanks Mikeyt. I was able to find a lot of great info on this website. Seems it will pull a skier and the boat is well liked. I am really impressed with the boat based on what i have read so far.

I have hit a snag though - the owner does not have a registration for the trailer, which is unfortunate as I need to import it into Canada. Doesn't look good.

[rock doc]

Found this site that estimated the typical fuel consumption at various rpms for the mercruisers. Thought it may be of interest to some folks.

MerCruiser 7.4 Fuel Consumption 310 HP | MPG GPH Specs US Gallons per Hour | 7.4 L 454 mpi v8

[gahooligan]

Make the trailer registration part of the deal be should be able to go register it without issue before you buy it.

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[rock doc]

He said he has no paperwork on the trailer. I suspect ownership was never transferred. Too bad.

[gahooligan]

Here in ga if you go to the dmv with a vin you can register to a trailer. If you don't have a vin you can say it was home built and they will give you a vin plate for it. If you really like the boat and they guy wants to sell it I'm sure it can be worked out.

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[gahooligan]

Originally Posted by rock doc

He said he has no paperwork on the trailer. I suspect ownership was never transferred. Too bad.

Did he never get a tag? If he ever tagged it the state has the paperwork!

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[rock doc]

He bought the boat used, so he would have to contact the last person that had it registered. I am guessing this trailer would have a serial number on it so you can't claim it is home made. I've run into this issue before....it would be a big risk to take to import this trailer into Canada without proper tags.

[jarwiebe]

Originally Posted by rock doc

I have hit a snag though - the owner does not have a registration for the trailer, which is unfortunate as I need to import it into Canada. Doesn't look good.

What about buying the boat and taking a trailer from home and bringing the boat back on it. To have to pass up on a great boat just because of no tags for a trailer would be a real shame. This may involve some extra cost (you now have 2 trailers) but it may be easier to dispose of the "not tagged" trailer in the USA than the hassle of getting it imported.