New Centurion Owner - Dumb Questions

[twilson 0]

Hello!

New owner of a 2000 Elite V and have a few questions.  I've searched the forums and didn't come up with exactly what I'm looking for.

1.  What are the 2 knobs on the dash just below and each side of the center gauge?  Pic attached.

2.  Directly under the middle rear seat where you gain access to the v drive, there's a drain plug.  Assuming this turns counter clockwise?  Mine doesn't turn easily and don't want to put too much pressure on it in the wrong direction.  Sorry no pic handy.

3.  Lastly, what other models and years share this same hull?  I see lots of people sharing their setup for surfing, but it's hard to compare apple to apples.

Anything else I need to know about this boat?  So far pretty happy with it.  Adding a Roswell tower similar to the newer ones that just arrived. 

Thanks!!!

 

Tom

[Jake707 171]

First welcome to the site, I ,Chenige and a couple others here have the same boat as you and love them.

1. The two knows are used to "calibrate" your two speedos. Each speedo ties into its own paddle wheel at the back of the boat and depending on list can produce different speed readings. Either way the speedo is garbage and should not be payed attention to. GPS Perfect Pass would be ideal but if you don't have it already the kit is about a grand. I personally use a GPS app on my phone when surfing to help gauge where I need to be. Any other time I care more about RPMs then speed so when crossing the lake I keep it around 3500 which is low to mid 20s when ballast is empty.

2. That is your mid ship drain plug. I personally have never removed mine over the past two years Ive owned the boat as Mine is dam near concreted in there from the feel of it as well.

3. First key not for our hull is it is different from the hull on the Avy (Avalanche) which is arguably the best boat to have in that early era. The key give away is when looking at the Avy from the rear the hull sidewalls go straight down from the rub rail till they meet the V at the bottom while our hull cuts in about 6" on each side then down. I believe around 07? the Elite hull went to the same hull as the Avy but its about a foot shorter.

 

For surfing I have found best results using my homemade suck gate (google it or search it here if you don't know tons of info on them) and evenly weighted with just a slight list to the surf side. This makes it much more enjoyable with kids or drunk adults over a heavily listed boat and the dfference in wave for beginners to intermediates is negligible.

[Bongo Fury 640]

I was always told those knobs were wife volume control....

[twilson 0]

2 hours ago, Jake707 said:

First welcome to the site, I ,Chenige and a couple others here have the same boat as you and love them.

1. The two knows are used to "calibrate" your two speedos. Each speedo ties into its own paddle wheel at the back of the boat and depending on list can produce different speed readings. Either way the speedo is garbage and should not be payed attention to. GPS Perfect Pass would be ideal but if you don't have it already the kit is about a grand. I personally use a GPS app on my phone when surfing to help gauge where I need to be. Any other time I care more about RPMs then speed so when crossing the lake I keep it around 3500 which is low to mid 20s when ballast is empty.

2. That is your mid ship drain plug. I personally have never removed mine over the past two years Ive owned the boat as Mine is dam near concreted in there from the feel of it as well.

3. First key not for our hull is it is different from the hull on the Avy (Avalanche) which is arguably the best boat to have in that early era. The key give away is when looking at the Avy from the rear the hull sidewalls go straight down from the rub rail till they meet the V at the bottom while our hull cuts in about 6" on each side then down. I believe around 07? the Elite hull went to the same hull as the Avy but its about a foot shorter.

 

For surfing I have found best results using my homemade suck gate (google it or search it here if you don't know tons of info on them) and evenly weighted with just a slight list to the surf side. This makes it much more enjoyable with kids or drunk adults over a heavily listed boat and the dfference in wave for beginners to intermediates is negligible.

Awesome great info! Thank you!! 

Anyone ever change out the rear hatch actuator for gas shocks?  Seems like it would be more convenient.

[Revoke36 0]

Don't be afraid to take a wrench to that T handle drain plug. It was likely tightened with a wrench to begin with. And yes, counter clockwise will loosen it. 

My boat has the same hull. Just currently started to get it surfable. All I have at the moment is two 600 pound ballast bags for the rear. Homemade suck gate. Sweet spot is very small but rideable. I'd also like to hear from others on setup. I'm not interested in listing the boat so preferably like to hear weighting this hull with a suck gate type device. 

Edited September 26, 2017 by Revoke36

[Jake707 171]

I just changed out my rear hydraulic actuator for gas shocks and a pull release this summer. Great upgrade in my opinion. Was wanting to change over the one piece rear deck to the new 3 piece design but would have been way more expensive. All in I was about $70 with two 40# gas shocks, stainless mounting hardware and pull release mechanism.

That actuator is a ticking time bomb, when it goes out and the hatch is closed you better hope the bottom mounting bolt is facing the right way and you are flexible enough to get to it through the V drive access hatch. Plus is slower that snail pooh and when youre out on the water you don't want to wait 3 minutes for it to open and close just to get a life jacket you forgot to pull out prior haha

[twilson 0]

3 hours ago, Revoke36 said:

Don't be afraid to take a wrench to that T handle drain plug. It was likely tightened with a wrench to begin with. And yes, counter clockwise will loosen it. 

My boat has the same hull. Just currently started to get it surfable. All I have at the moment is two 600 pound ballast bags for the rear. Homemade suck gate. Sweet spot is very small but rideable. I'd also like to hear from others on setup. I'm not interested in listing the boat so preferably like to hear weighting this hull with a suck gate type device. 

Thank you!

 

1 hour ago, Jake707 said:

I just changed out my rear hydraulic actuator for gas shocks and a pull release this summer. Great upgrade in my opinion. Was wanting to change over the one piece rear deck to the new 3 piece design but would have been way more expensive. All in I was about $70 with two 40# gas shocks, stainless mounting hardware and pull release mechanism.

That actuator is a ticking time bomb, when it goes out and the hatch is closed you better hope the bottom mounting bolt is facing the right way and you are flexible enough to get to it through the V drive access hatch. Plus is slower that snail pooh and when youre out on the water you don't want to wait 3 minutes for it to open and close just to get a life jacket you forgot to pull out prior haha

This is great info.   Already looked at how to get through to the bottom bolt for when it fails.  It has to be the original actuator and can't believe it hasn't had issues yet.  How did you install the the pull release?  I was thinking it need to be latched, but hadn't totally worked that part out yet.  Any pics of your set up?   Thanks!

[BA3320 0]

Jake, Interested in the setup for the gas shocks as well. We've had our actuator out since we bought the boat 3 years ago and just manually lift that heavy hatch by hand and keep it up with a 2x4!

[Jake707 171]

Ill try to get some pictures today when I get home. Hardest part was marking the mounting points for the shocks but I had my wife climb in while I closed it. Actually the hardest part was not messing with her too much while I had her trapped in the locker haha

[Jake707 171]

[Jake707 171]

As promised here are some pics of my set up. Dam cover ripped all the way across the sun deck trying to take it off so must be about time to replace it. 

I took some of the locking mechanism and it's matching latch. It comes with a black nylon handle and I had my wife stich up a "cover" for that out of a similar colored vinyl we found at the fabric store so it looked more oem ish. It also helps stiffen that look handle so risk of it falling inside the deck while closing is less. We make it a habit to pull it down by that loop as well. 

[Jake707 171]

All in all it works great. Just pull that loop out and up about two inches and then the shocks take over and lift the rest of the way. 

[twilson 0]

This is awesome - this project will come right after I get the tower mounted in the next couple of weeks. Thanks!!