Eliminator Boats relocates to new state-of-the-art facility.

Originally published in August 2008 issue.

By Jason Johnson

Nearly 40 years after calling an empty gas station home in Huntington Park, Calif., a new era of Eliminator Boats is beginning in Perris, Calif. The largest performance boatbuilder on the West Coast is relocating to an impressive 100,000-square-foot facility built by the company as part of a larger complex with more than 400 indoor boat and recreational vehicle storage units and a handful of commercial buildings.

Obviously, Bob Leach, founder and president of Eliminator Boats, is excited about the massive industrial park-like project, but he's most proud of the headquarters set aside for building his boats.

"It'll only add to the quality of our boats," said Leach, who expects all boat production to be in the new location by the end of summer. "My goal is to always improve on our products. This new building should help us do that."

Leach said his company had simply outgrown its Mira Loma, Calif., building, which was built in the late 1980s. Back then, 20-plus-footers were the larger models—now the company has a 36-foot catamaran and a 43-foot V-bottom among its arsenal.

"It's almost so nice it's intimidating," said head rigger Tony Charamonte, after a few weeks of rigging boats at the new building. "It's probably more than we need right now, but the way it's set up, it's going to increase the efficiency of our shop.

"In the old building, the boats were so big that we had to completely stop production to move boats around," he continued. "We'll be able to build more boats but still keep the quality real high."

Seeing is believing, as a tour around the new facility showcases giant gelcoat booths, state-of-the-art boat lifts mounted high in the building's beams and a fire-response system like no other. Then there's the showroom, which welcomes visitors with a coffee station and giant glass windows overlooking a pool. Leach built the pool on the property like the one at the Mira Loma facility.

"This pool is much larger," he said. "We can launch two boats at a time. It's great for running boats and checking for leaks and it looks good when boats are on display in there."

Like the pool, everything in the factory headquarters is first-class. So are the adjacent storage units, which are 14 feet wide and anywhere from 40 to 90 feet long, perfect for storing boats, RVs, sand buggys and various toy haulers.

Located off a major freeway in Southern California, the boat and RV storage facility features on-site security, a resident manager, a washdown area and a dump station. Monthly storage rates range from $395 to $890, depending on the unit size.

Leach said he expects many boaters, not just Eliminator customers, to take advantage of the storage units as well as the service and detail opportunities that come with being located next to the Eliminator shop.

"It's a great location for us," he said. "We have freeway access and it's easy to get in and out."

Leach did acknowledge that the venture doesn't come at the best time with the economy. But he's seen the boating industry slow a couple of times and has bounced back even stronger every time.

"Everyone knows the market is soft," he said. "But this is not based on the way the economy is going at the moment. In the long run it will be worth it."

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