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Article: Eliminator 260 / Wake Edition

daveb1

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nice boat! if u r considering buying it, u should be aware of a few things;
- the horsepower level and speed require specialty ins. translation mega
$. ask me how i know
- the hull bottom will allow about 85mph b4 chine walk kills you. i made the mistake of
turning my 250 eagle into a 92mph boat and even w/tabs was a handful.
eliminators are amongst the best and i am moving toward a 28 daytona twin with 565 mercs in the fall.
 

RiverDave

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nice boat! if u r considering buying it, u should be aware of a few things;
- the horsepower level and speed require specialty ins. translation mega
$. ask me how i know
- the hull bottom will allow about 85mph b4 chine walk kills you. i made the mistake of
turning my 250 eagle into a 92mph boat and even w/tabs was a handful.
eliminators are amongst the best and i am moving toward a 28 daytona twin with 565 mercs in the fall.

This boat shouldn't be too expensive to insure (nothing like a cat anyways). I have heard about the chine walking on the 26's.. Not sure how the lower X affects that if at all.
 

Wakebrdr94

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The boat looks nice for sure, but it is more than ballast and a tower that makes a good wakeboard wake. I am in no way saying that people cannot use the boat for that. Heck, we started with a 18' flat bottom. People put towers on bayliners, but I would like to see it perform first. My buddy had a 28' Chaparel deck boat and that thing threw an awesome wake, no ballast. Wakeboat hulls are designed to displace a lot of water. I would venture to say that it would not tow or track like a tow boat, as there was no mention of tracking fins or the underwater gear. but I have been wrong before.

There are some very nice features on that boat, but besides a swimstep and tower, what makes it any different than putting a tower on a different go fast boat?

Good write up none the less
 

OldSchoolBoats

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Very nice write up. I love this boat......everything about it. As a family guy, I would probably never go over 70 in it, but it is nice to know that you got that beast of a motor sitting there. Definitely a "sleeper" with a lot of functionality.
 

DarkHorseRacing

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The boat looks nice for sure, but it is more than ballast and a tower that makes a good wakeboard wake. I am in no way saying that people cannot use the boat for that. Heck, we started with a 18' flat bottom. People put towers on bayliners, but I would like to see it perform first. My buddy had a 28' Chaparel deck boat and that thing threw an awesome wake, no ballast. Wakeboat hulls are designed to displace a lot of water. I would venture to say that it would not tow or track like a tow boat, as there was no mention of tracking fins or the underwater gear. but I have been wrong before.

There are some very nice features on that boat, but besides a swimstep and tower, what makes it any different than putting a tower on a different go fast boat?

Good write up none the less

Hi,

See this YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9G3APOBZOs&feature=youtu.be

While this video is of an Eliminator 280 Eagle XP, the 260 Eagle XP performs similarly. I would say that unless you are a Pro-Circuit professional wakeboarder, if you can do tricks like these behind a boat like this then it would be all 99% of normal people would need out of a wakeboard boat while having none of the drawbacks of a tournament style boat.

Hope this helps,
DHR
 

DarkHorseRacing

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Nice write up RD!

Some changes since you posted these pictures, in case someone wants to replicate this build for themselves:

1) Prop has changed from a 4-blade RH Mercury Bravo 1 to a 5-blade LH Mercury Maximus which has helped tremendously on the holeshot and mid-range as well as the general hull attitude and tab inputs at cruising and higher speeds. The Maximus holds the wakeboard speeds just fine with the tabs down, and it has wicked mid-range punch. Top End was sacrificed for Owner safety. TCM tested the boat to 85mph with the bimini. Take the bimini off and there's more speed to be had.

2) The stereo placement wasn't ideal so it's now lower down and it's not hitting the drivers leg. While you still can't access it directly while driving, the ignition key and light were moved to the left and a Remote was added in the lower right corner of the dash, so now the Remote can do almost everything you need on the Stereo and the driver now has direct access to it. The other Remotes (passenger side as well as transom) remain. Considering most people just hook up an iPod these days (iPod connector is below the kill switch lanyard on a small shelf in this particular boat), you really don't need to mess with the head unit.

If anyone has any questions about this setup or performance, I've had seat time in this and can answer them in these comments.

DHR
 

Cray Paper

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I have a 1999 25 Eagle XP with a 502Mag EFI, huge K tabs and dual ram hydraulic steering. It will yank a skier up on two or pull anything behind it ( with a 26 Pitch Bravo prop) but it is not the best tool for this type of stuff. The tabs have to be stuffed all the way down, fuel economy sucks halfway on plane, it's hard to see below 20 MPH etc. Yes, you cold add ballast, yes you could add a roll bar for a better anchor point for towing but these hulls weren't made for 15 - 25 MPH. I get that Eliminator is making an attempt to show that it's boats can do a decent job doing this but they are not great at it. I would venture to say that a large percentage of people that buy high end ski boats are more about prestige than hardcore benefits of them so this boat makes sense to the masses. It's just not the best boat for this application.
 
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