Dragon Slayer

Hey, it is good to see a place where I can go to discuss things with other Eliminator owners. I have been working in the marine design business for several years and have always wanted a place where I could go and find out what other people wanted. I really don't have any questions to ask now but I am sure that I will in the near future

Airpacker

Mira Loma huh? Do you work for Eliminator per chance?If so,I have a great suggestion for you.Figure out how to get water out of a stepped cat!What a PITA it is getting any water out of my Daytona.The bulkhead drains are set an inch above the bottom of the boat,the step retains about 1.5 inches of water and the access to vacum out the water really sucks.I visited on this problem about a year ago after gettin soaked in a down pour.It took me days to dry out the boat after removing 168 pounds of soaked carpet from under the floor.(dopey place for carpet anyway)The locker and cooler cutouts should just be gelcoated IMHO.The use of pop up cleats although nice,installed without buckets and through hull drains makes no sence at all.Needless to say I have removed the carpet below decks,installed drains and buckets under the cleats and fashioned a collection of adaptors for my shop vac to get the water out of this thing.It just seems to me that a little engineering in the beginning could eliminate this problem all together.Let me know what you think.

RickerTX

Good point Airpacker! My Daytona has the same problems. I can never get the water, from below, out. I would be interested in exactly how you have done this and did you gel coat the cooler boxes? I don't know about your hull, but I have a lot of water (a lot of weight) that I can't get rid of.

Rick

Airpacker

Ricker.I have not as yet finnished the cooler boxes or the ski locker.I plan on epoxy painting them next spring.As for how did I get rid of the water?it involves a big shop vac,several feet of semirigid plastic 3/8 inc tubing and a schittt load of patience.You can tread the plastic tube into the section of sponson under the cockpit throught the rear hull plug.once you get past the firts bulk head which you can see throught the bilge pump access holes,turn on the vac and start suckin the water out.whan no more water is seen coming out,repeat the procedure through the bulkhead drain hole under the coolers going rear first then forward.The last place to get into involves cutting the carpet covering the forward cabin bulkhead to access the front of the sponsons.If possible.park the trailer facing down hill overnight so much of the trapped water flows forward to this compartment.Suck it out too.Then rip out all that dam carpet and heave it overboard.Get a simple rubber boat plug and stick it in the bulkhead drain hole between the ski locker and engine well.This keeps the locker dry.You might need to remove a bit of the tubing thats glued in the hole if you have a depth finder sender glassed in right behind the tube.If you have pop up cleats you need to bucket and thru hull drain them to keep the water out.My next step will be to cut out the floor in 4 places and install service covers to get better access to the two sponson sections that are inaccessible now:under the seats and in the forward section of cabin.I kid you not when I say I removed 168lbs of wet carpet(I weighed it)

rbtnt

I took the carpet out of the ski locker in my 28 Daytona last year and replaced with gelcoat. I also bought some 1' X 1' plastic floor grate from Overtons to put over the gelcoat. I put a rubber stopper in the bulkhead between the engine compartment and ski locker just as Airpacker did. My next project will be to cut access holes under the seats in the cabin to access the sponsons. It gets to be a real mess if you leak some oil and it gets up front in the sponsons ahead of the steps.

Has anyone cut access holes under the seats up front in a Daytona? I don't think there is anything under them.

aTX427

Airpacker, If I have water in the side sponsons, is that how my cooler lockers are getting wet or is there a cross over from the center? If so, is there a way to plug them? I thought about taking the carpet out of the lockers and the center, but it looks so ratty afterwords. I would hate to have someone open it up and see that. My old Donzi was gelcote finished, so it was never an issue.

Airpacker

Yes John,the lockers get wet from water coming forward in the sponsons,usually when trailering.You can put plugs in the bulkhead holes behind the coolers.Screw the carpet,really,who is gonna look in there anyway If you have pop up cleats,water will get into the sponsons from there as well as down the holes they drilled for the bilge pump hoses.Silicone the holes around the hoses and use drains and cups on the cleats.


rbnt,I am going to call eliminator and find out if anything is down there.

If anyone knows where to buy the service ports like the ones over the bilge pumps,please let me know as i will need 4 of them to cover the holes I need to cut.

rbtnt

Airpacker,

I was going to use these from West Marine. I think Boat US, Overtons and other suppliers have them. They come in 4", 6" 8" and 10", white or black, smooth or non-skid.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...keyword=103606

Dragon Slayer

It may be a little late but Eliminator is now using pull up cleats on most models and they do not exhibit the same problems as Pop ups. It was a good idea but it had it its downfalls. Pull ups dont leak because they are cast solid. I agree the carpet in the cooler locker is not the best idea either.

singularity

I sold my 26 Daytona piece of crap.

The crummy little sharp lag screws that they
use to hold on the deck (!?) protrude inside the
cabin and their sharp ends are hidden behind
the carpet on the sides. Cut myself several times
on them.

I sold it when the hatch (which is cored with this
really crummy honeycomb crap) started to delaminate.

Fast boat. Flimsy piece of crap with some assembly quality issues though.