[allz28]

Thanks so much ShabahZ28- that makes more sense. It certainly didn't look like Sunbrella. Sounds like a rather odd choice in material from the factory. Now I need to decide whether to use Sunbrella, which is the industry standard, or see if I can find this Nautolex, which really did well for me and looked great until it shrunk and cracked. Hmmmm.

[ShabahZ280]

Sunbrella is great, and requires minimal maintenance. The vinyl definitely needs some work to keep it looking good and protected to keep the cracking under control. The sunbrella is more or less the industry standard these days, you very rarely see vinyl tops and covers. The sunbrella is pricy, but somehow I think the Nautolex Prefixx vinyl would be more expensive in the long run if you were going to do a whole large canvas top configuration or mooring cover.

My Z280's got the OEM vinyl camper canvas, and while it does look good, (and different from any of the other boats in the marina), it also leaks like a sieve around the stitching during heavy rains because of the vinyl shrinking around the gore-tex stitching. When it's time to replace in the next few years, I'll be going with sunbrella

[allz28]

That's all good to know. Like you, I really liked the look of my old cover. It certainly looks more expensive than Sunbrella when it's next to another boat at the marina. But after hearing all that, I'm thinking I'll go with Sunbrella then too. Every place i find the Nautolex with pre-fixx says it's for seats. Never says anything about covers. I've found Sunbrella online for $15 per yard, which doesn't seem bad considering my local fabric store wanted $18 per yard for marine vinyl.

[RNR-Marine]

I believe you're right for pre-2001 Mariahs. It was all made in-house at Mariah until 2001.

All Mariah canvas after 2001 was Sunbrella... should have been more specific (and this model is the "original" Mariah, so I was wrong on it - sorry).

Vinyl is a poor cover material because a) it doesn't breath to let the interior dry out and b) it will absorb water and mildew over time.

[mikeyt]

Originally Posted by ShabahZ280

Actually, the Original OEM canvas was NOT sunbrella.

It was Nautolex Prefixx vinyl for all the models except (182, 183, & 202)

The cockpit & bow covers may have been but i dont think that the travel/storage covers were vinyl. At least mine certainly isn't and its the one that came with the boat. I did replace the original cockpit & bow cover from my boat about 6 yrs ago with Sunbrella and couldn't be more happy with it. The original vinyl stuff was mildewed & cracked.