1989 Supra Mariah

[murnmill]

What can anyone tell me about the Mariah? I got my eye on one. What's good/bad or things to watch out for?

[86 century]

I am pretty sure the maria is the openbow sister to my bravura.

The floor and stringers are wood core so check them close.
Try giving the motor mount lag bolts a turn
If there are any soft spots in the floor most of the time you will have stringer rot.


I think the freeboard is between the comp and sunsport havent been able track down any hard proof though.
Good luck

[murnmill]

What's the difference between the Mariah and Sunsport. Interior looks to be about the same, but is the Sunsport a deeper hull?

[86 century]

I would love for some one to answer that one. This is how mine sets in the water hope it helps.


Im trying to find a starting point for ballast but info on the maria/bravura is a little hard to come by.

[sybrmike]

Per the '90 manual

Sunsport/Marauder - Mariah/Bravura

Length 20' 3-1/2" - 20' 10"
Width (beam) 96" - 95"
Width (transom) 81" - 82"
Draft (at stop) 24" - 20"
Depth (amidship) 48" - 36"
Weight 2950 - 2800

[wspeedin]

murnmill, did you post this in WakeWorld as well? If so, Im the guy on there that was answering your questions. You have come to the right place, here you can find many many people with knowledge of these boats. A guy on here named haugy used to own a really nice Mariah and he would know everything baout that boat for you. The Bravura is the same boat but a closed bow.
The sunsport is a great boat. 20' and a deep freeboard. To get an idea of how much it would have vs another I have attached a picture of the Sunsport's bigger brother, the Saltare. It should sit in the water very similar to the sunsport, it is just a few feet longer in the bow.

[haugy]

The Mariah is in between the Sunsport and Comp.

The Mariah is the same length as the Sunsport, but sits much lower in the water than the Sunsport. The freeboard is about 4.5-5 inches lower in the Mariah. Which may not seem like much, but it is. The storage on the Mariah is much less than the Sunsport as well. You will get water on the back passengers, unless you are on glass, and I mean glass. It's a fact, nothing you can do about it. If the water is choppy, those in the back are getting very wet.

Pro's to this are you have a very nimble and fast boat.

Cons, you can only put so much ballast in it (1200lbs to be exact), and that's it before it can't pull onto plane, or it sinks from water coming over the back. It's possible, but very difficult to get a big wake out of it. It will provide a solid wake, but not big. This boat also sits so low that you better know how to drive one or you will put the bow underwater constantly. It sits so low like the Comp that if you take waves head on at low speed, they are going over the bow, big time.

Other than that, they are great boats. They do tend to ride rough in big choppy waters, but I loved mine, and sometimes do miss it's nimble agility. With the 351w they have plenty of pep and will jump out of the hole like a jackrabbit. They can be great boats. But if your choices included a Sunport as the alternative, go for the Sunsport.

Things to watch out for on Mariah:

-Wood floors and stringers of course
-rotten front cushions from submarining the boat too many times
-rotten rear hatch from getting backwashed
-broken driver seat mount

The rest is standard Supra inspections. Floor, engine mounts, engine, tranny, electrical, etc. Nothing special or problematic about them.

But they can look damn good when cleaned up.






And here it is next to a Launch. Tough pic in the dark with a digital camera. But you can see the height difference.

[haugy]

This might help.

Here are two pictures. One of my old Mariah, and one of my current Saltare. Both were taken from the door of my shop, at the same distances. As you can see, the Mariah is much smaller in length, but look at how high the sides of the boat are on the trailer.

[86 century]

What tower is that on your mariah.

Looks good on there

[murnmill]

wspeedin,

No, that isn't me on Wakeworld. There are 3 nice Supras that I got my eye on. All are the same asking price, each have pros and cons.

1. 1989 Mariah clean with 532 hours
2. 1990 Mariah clean with 187 original hours
3. 1992 comp super clean 600ish hours I think. closed bow, but I believe it has composite floor and fiberglass wrapped stringer?
4. 1990 Sunsport clean with 502 hours.

I really like the open bow idea, but don't want a floor/stringer project a few years down the road. The 1992 comp would ease my fears of that, but I might regret not buying an open bow.

How's the performance of a Sunsport vs. the Mariah do you think? I'm guessing a bit slower?