Official 2018 Los Angeles Boat Show Report!

[bocco]

Interesting to see Eliminator use that ARGOFET battery isolator. I put one in my boat last year and love the fact that both batteries always charge no matter which battery I'm running on.

 

[bocco]

The Livorsi stuff looks great. But I'm still wanting a single lever control to replace my dual lever. The same bling as two lever offshore controls but the convenience of just one lever.

 

[RiverDave]

The Livorsi stuff looks great. But I'm still wanting a single lever control to replace my dual lever. The same bling as two lever offshore controls but the convenience of just one lever.

Is your boat DTS or Cable?

RD

 

[RiverDave]

This is about the epitome of cool for a Havi / Parker boat. 27 Speedster with the twin 400’s will put you in the 120+ mph range all day long!

(Little known fact but a 28 Speedster with 700’s is on my short list of boats that I plan on owning someday)

Getting started at the bow. The customer opted to have a stereo control installed on the sponson. (I couldn’t do it.. These boats are so sexy, I’d keep the lines pure). This is customer choice though and it’s pretty obvious the guy wants to hang out on the beach and play music so it makes sense.

Now this thing next to the stereo control I couldn’t figure out what it is.. I don’t consider myself to be the all knowing guy about boats or anything but I can usually figure things out pretty quick.

I asked everyone in the booth and no one else seemed to know either. Lol. They put a call into Jeff Hoffman who installed it. Just a weird connection of some sort. He answered what it was, and I’ll tell you at the end of the review. In the meantime what do you think it is?

On the other sponson they put a wash down. Again I’m so weird about the lines of boats I probably would have put the small button style underneath down in the tunnel.. This is a lot more functional though.

These things are just drop dead gorgeous.

Intake vents for airflow through the cabin. Windshield boats can get pretty hot when you are just idling around and these things are functional believe it or not.

The normal intakes for an I/O version.. Again to me anyways the Speedsters are some of the best looking boats ever tooled.

Climbing in the boat they went with a traditional and classy look. I like just the word “Speedster”.

Passenger side helm. Classy again, and you can see the kicker media center down on the left, which accents the screen on the dash nicely.

I think Eliminator could do a lot more with those air vents down the road.. I’m surprised they don’t throw a couple of inline fans in the tubes, and with Bob’s aviation background they don’t place a little directional vent there out of a Cessna or something. Either way they are ahead of most the others with a functioning vent period.

Little better shot of the media center.. (I’m sponsored by Kicker guys, we gotta show some love right?!)

Drivers side helm. There’s that steering wheel again. Love that thing, and will end up with one in my Hallett here soon.

Small side note, if Inwas building one of these I would have them install multiple glove boxes in the gunnels. Those flat areas are useless at speed.

That’s the deck of legends boys.. A lot better people than me have looked down those sponsons for decades.

Under the bow. Now part of owning one of these smaller fast cats is the trade off. The Eliminator is better than most with the notch so you can get in there but it’s right.

Fuel tube.. Not sure what that one going out the side is.

Drainage right at the entrance at the stepdown.

Less than zero chance a person of my portly persuasion would be using this cooler. I guess you could keep the kids drinks up there or something. I get it though, they had to put something up there so this was it.

 

[RodnJen]

That thing is perfection!

 

[RiverDave]

Checking out some of the features of the Speedster and the rigging.

Drivers side funnel. Again I’d have them put glove boxes in here.

Drivers side gunnel rear. Note the gap between the interior and the top of the gunnel. Pretty sure that’s where a Bimini would be laying in the down position. (Hidden Bimini)

Passenger side

Now here is my only knock on the Speedster. In the gunnels on the sides they have pieces of what I believe are pecan or plexus that are painted to match the boat. It all looks good, but those pieces of plastic aren’t really doing a 300k (guessing on price) rig justice.. They are kind of flimsy and move around at speed etc.. There has got to be some kinda better option there.

First look in the rear hatch and it is all bad ass!

GRP Fender holders, these are the bad ass ones. (Little trivia here.. one of these resides in my garage for the last year and was supposed to go in my Schiada. AJ talked me out of installing it because it didn’t match the genre of my boat)

Everything in here is art. The little hard lines that angle off and are capped took me a minute to figure out. They just did that so you don’t have to just look at exposed threads from the u bolts. (potential edit.. In the pics they look capped off to me. It's possible I am seeing that wrong and they are actually hooked to the hydraulic lines for the steering of the boat / hard to tell) Notice the bulkhead collars on everything as well.

I know putting the batteries towards the transom makes it a lot cleaner and easier to rig.. A question for the riggers at Eliminator though. Outboard boats are always kind of tail heavy, wouldn’t it make more sense to push them forward towards the back seat and then run the wiring back to the motors? Just to help kind of push the CG forward a little? Honest question, if one of those guys wants to call me.. I’d like to learn more.

Everything is pretty double throw down in here! Think I would have done a polished Stainless fitting on that hose down reel just to tie it all together, but it would probably break the plastic or something.

Overall this boat gets the two thumbs up! Eliminator is killing it!

That little thing that was in the front sponson by the way was a connector for a speaker that sets on the deck.

 

[bocco]

Is your boat DTS or Cable?

RD

It's cable. It's the original 2 lever shifter that DCB was using in 1997. I know that I'm going against the popular trend but it seems to me that docking would be easier if I had a single lever like the non performance boats use. But make it look like the nice stuff that Livorsi makes and fit in the same opening that I already have.

Also my wife has big problems with the 2 lever deal. And she used to drive the hell out of our V-drive cruiser both docking and trailering.

 

[RiverDave]

It's cable. It's the original 2 lever shifter that DCB was using in 1997. I know that I'm going against the popular trend but it seems to me that docking would be easier if I had a single lever like the non performance boats use. But make it look like the nice stuff that Livorsi makes and fit in the same opening that I already have.

Also my wife has big problems with the 2 lever deal. And she used to drive the hell out of our V-drive cruiser both docking and trailering.

I know someone made one back in the day, but I can't remember who.. I'd call everyone and see if anyone has one.. Eddie / CP / Marine INdustries West / etc..

 

[DaveC]

RD,

My boat looks very similar to Setina's 27 Speedster except mine is an I/O. If I ever get it back I will post more pictures.

What piece were you referring to as plastic in the gunnel? The part with the speaker?

The other cool thing about the 27 Speedster with twin 400's is that they have 3 hatch configurations which adjusts how much interior leg room you get between the seats. Read that as, they can make the interior room larger. They basically shorten the engine bay which is empty in an outboard boat and make more interior/leg room between the seats. Setina's boat has the medium hatch so he has a lot more room between the seats than an I/O boat. They have one more hatch which is even shorter and creates a lot more interior room, enough to add an extra set of seats. They have a rendering of it but I don't think one is built yet.

 

[RiverDave]

Last boat for a Eliminator! It was a second 28’ Fundeck with another 565.

This boat was clean as hell too, but a little shy of the grey one.

I for the life of me don’t understand these giant swim platforms.. If almost everyone wants them why not just tool it into the boat? That’s basically what Howard did with their 288, and it came out nice.

This boat we came in through the back so it’s ginna be backwards from all the rest.

I really like Eliminator’s curved walkway with the love seat behind the drivers seat. I think that would be a cool spot for a little bar if you didn’t want the seat for some reason or you could do both.

Fiberglass inserts, this boat is a JL boat.

Remember on the last one hey ran those four analog gauges across the base of the dash. This one looks nice as well, but that other one was pretty gangster.

I’m obsessed with this love seat thing. Lol

Moving forward to the open bow.

This is one of the things I love about the custom boat industry. Each one is a little different!

Now here’s where I like the blue boat a little more than the grey. The interior was a little more detailed and I like the way they kind of flared out the traditional diamonds on the seat backs at the bottom.

Little better picture of the interior. Eliminator can build you literally whatever you want (full
Fledged Alcantara deals that are three dimensional etc) but for a fun family boat that is gonna get a lost of use this is a nice blend of durable vs style.

 

[RiverDave]

RD,

My boat looks very similar to Setina's 27 Speedster except mine is an I/O. If I ever get it back I will post more pictures.

What piece were you referring to as plastic in the gunnel? The part with the speaker?

The other cool thing about the 27 Speedster with twin 400's is that they have 3 hatch configurations which adjusts how much interior leg room you get between the seats. Read that as, they can make the interior room larger. They basically shorten the engine bay which is empty in an outboard boat and make more interior/leg room between the seats. Setina's boat has the medium hatch so he has a lot more room between the seats than an I/O boat. They have one more hatch which is even shorter and creates a lot more interior room, enough to add an extra set of seats. They have a rendering of it but I don't think one is built yet.

Look at the first pic in the rigging post. That vertical panel with the graphics is a giant piece of plexi or something.. you can see the two bolts securing it ahead of the throttles. It goes all the way back and behind the speakers at the rear seat.

 

[RiverDave]

Checking out the blue boat a little more in depth.

GRP fender holders in both cabinets

This boat is every bit as nice as anything on the market!

Cole Trickle will take notice that their is the bulkhead bezel on the front shower line on this one.

I’m not sure why this one has the second access panel. Almost wonder if a big glove box lid would look a little more appealing here.

Pretty Bad Ass!

C’mon guys.. I know you can’t shorten the looms on some of these motors but ya could have hid that behind a panel, or in a gunnel somewhere.

Love the fact they run internal hinges! The engine bay and hatch is also a lot nicer than most in the industry.

Overall, move that loop of wire somewhere, and I give this boat a two thumbs up as well!

Eliminator did a great job with their booth and all of the boats they brought this year. I am very excited to see what’s in store for the future with their center console / West Coast party boat program, and I hope when they build one RDP is the first one they call!

 

[Havasu Surfer]

Battery Switch housing from MarineIW.com

Thanks