Harley 42'

Pizza,


yes it is quiet around here! I am very envious of your trip to FL. I have dreamed of doing it for years, I just haven't committed myself to it. Maybe this summer. Is it easy to find a slip? How about storage for your truck and trailer? Where at in the Bahamas do you go? Do you have a favorite place there?
I just have a single steering cylinder. It has been trouble free since I installed it several years ago. Unfortunately, it is one of the few things that can completely disable the boat if it suddenly stopped working. I need to get a spare and keep it on the boat.
I did get the EFI set up installed on the Starboard engine. All I can say is WOW! It runs soooo good. No more long cranking when cold, always idles at the same speed wether in gear or not. The impressive part is the fuel savings. At cruise I am showing 20 gph on the carbed engine and 16 gph on the EFI side as per floscan fuel meters. That's 4 gph on one engine. When I get the other side done it should go from approx 40 gph total to around 32 gph. Way more than I had hoped for. I popped the 4B Rollas back on too. With the mufflers, heavily soundproofed engine room and the quiet props, she is running smooth and quiet. Just the way I like it.

I hired a fab shop to make a polished SS radar arch for me. I ran the boat to their city upstream from me last week for a trial fit. It was a beautiful day, but very cold. The spray from the props turned the swimtep and transom into an ice ball Thank goodnes for good canvass and a strong propane heater, or we would have been frozen solid. I went for a short cruise on New Years Eve with from old friends. We found a flat spot (not easy) and dropped the hook, had a few gin martinis and cigars, made her back just before dark. As usual another successful mission!



That's all I got

Steve

 

steve,
had a cold snap in fla. but we have been using boat on nice days, also catching up on some mait. on harley and my girlfriend's 24' Scout. Using boat with 1 steering cylinder is no problem. I wouldnt worry about adding a spare cylinder to your boat as they ususally don't break suddenly they just start to leak. keep an eye on seals of both trim & steering cylinders and don't forget to make sure ball/socket on transom housing does not get stuck. I keep spare hoses on board for all cylinders including trim tabs.Also keep 2 clutch/throttle cables. I took some close ups of my arch-. It is a great feature. I have lights, antennas, radar, and teaser reels on arch (used to have speakers but removed them). It is not part of my canvas system although the top rests very near the arch they are not connected. I already have 6' plus room under canvas, connecting to arch would make it taller and I don't need that. I think there are some other pics showing arch on page 16. Also look at some of my cockpit pics on earlier posts. You can see some support poles leading from arch to floor. When the arch bolts to the gunwale there are plates underneath that have that have additional support poles that go down to floor and thru to another set of plates. Like alot of the metal work done by HH back in the 80's this was done right.
If youve always wanted to boat fla. and bahamas, go for it! It is a great state with so many places to boat. We love the east coast and Keys but we have been around gulf as far as Ft. Myers area and it is great too. I know you have a long way to trailer but my 1080 miles was a piece of cake, about $400 in fuel and $60 for a tunnel toll and that was it. A few days ago I took my empty trailer to factory in St. Pete for axle upgrade and that was 450 mile round trip so I have really towed over 1500 miles in a week (much easier w/o boat ). We mainly boat Palm Beach to Key West but are definately going to Bahamas soon. I have been before but not on the harley. It is sounding easier all the time. I have a mate who goes alot and I will be taking him on first trip. Also have met some guys who run over in 30'-40' go fast rigs. They usually go in groups for safety and fun and often shun marinas for anchoring up in cool areas. Lots of fish, conch and lobster. My mate loves to stay @ west end (only 60 miles) at a resort where he says you pay $300 per nite for 2 BR condo, slip, breakfast & dinner plus unlimited access to ice house. We will be trying that soon. But we expect to keep moving on to Abacos and Green Turtle area. Several people I know from MD. have homes/boats. We plan to base there for a bit and check out Abacos.
Palm beach inlet is closest to Bahamas so may be your best home base. I'm not sure about slip cost because we have waterfront house l, 3 miles to inlet. There are many marinas, probably a little pricey, But here is the good news! our neighborhood is full of nice homes with nice docks owned by people who aint got boats! Monthly rentals are very popular @$200-$300 per month. I could hook you up right on our same canal cheap. Safe neighborhood, protected dockage, close to all restaurants, malls, etc. (20 min to PBI airport) I am paying $250 month for trailer and/or boat&trailer storage in nice secure lot. I got to get back to Md. for some business but girlfriend is staying. I will be going back and forth. Hope to have a Bahama update & photos to post in next month or so.
Honestly, we may be 2 of the last ones who are keeping a 42' harley well maintained for year round use. I know Swamp has had his engine problems and I havent heard a peep from Martin. There is a beautiful centr console in Key West that is in really good shape (same engine as mine) but it is up 4 sale. The guys at the trailer factory built many trailers for HH and used to know some boat owners but they havnt heard from any 42' owners in a while. I have looked at some other stuff thinking that this thing cannot last forever. But with my wish list and my need to trailer it is still hard to beat the old harley. Anything close is almost 1/2 mill. Out of my budget!

 

Hey guys - Swampy is alive but after an 8 month layoff and painful job hunt process the Harley sits and gathers barnacles - no money for gas or for the engine repair I need but things are looking up.....hope to run the monster again some day but first we need to catch up.

Glad to hear things are going well for you guys....keep the pictures and stories coming!

 

Hey Swamp glad to hear you are still kickin. Sorry to hear boat isn't. So far S. Florida winter weather has been rough so you aint missed much good boating. I put boat on trailer in Jan. & came back to Md. to try & sell 2 businesses (out of pizza biz 4 good, I hope!). Girlfriend just came back 1 week ago & freaked out @ snow & ice. She is going back to Palm Beach ASAP. I hope to to be back in 2-3 weeks. Put boat back in water and have some fun! My son and I will be going to Keys for 2 weeks by boat. Friends have rented big waterfront house, sounds like a party. We will stay in Islamorada for 5-6 days and then on to Key West. I'm all rug up for fishing so we will be taking all that stuff in hopes of catching something. Might take mate along from Palm Beach for part of trip. He has brought us a little luck there and says he has Keys knowledge/connections. Still running same Cat 3126 engines, still runnin good. Still patching up glass work here & there along with other harley ailments, but with 25 yr old boat whatta you expect? I'm gonna touch base with you on one of my trips down. Want to check out your boat & show you we have done to ours. I'll give you some dates. Sounds like Steve is keepin his rig in top shape, the FI is a great addition (You finished it yet steve?) He is also talkin about an arch. I know you got a cool molded in arch, how does that hold up? was it built/installed properly? Is it part of your canvas connections? You been just keepin boat in water & scrubbing botton or have you been on hard any? Lots of stuff grows in S. Fla. waters, keeps scuba scrubbers busy. That is main reason I store on trlr when I am in Md. I will post when I know I'll be down & get in touch.

 

Great to hear from you Pizza. I am around and the new job means I travel within Florida - so no weeks away at a time and fewer airplanes (nice change). Would love to see your Harley with the diesels in person. Shoot me an email at orenard13 at yahoo and I will send you me cell phone and directions to my dock. Dualing Harleys at the dock would make for a great picture ;-)

The boat is in the water - been scouring the want ads for a used lift but no luck yet....she is pretty heavy so it takes quite a bit of cash to keep her in the air. In the meantime I run the one working motor weekly and scuba dive monthly to scrape off the crap. Once I get more solvent (the last 12 months have been the worst income since college for me ) I will be taking her out and getting the engines replaced or rebuilt, arnesons serviced, and bottom job done. Still cant swing diesels but I keep eyes open for good running take out 3126s - seems like tried and tested package and if I plan to run to bahamas, keys and beyond on future sebaticals - the diesels would make more sense than gassers. Getting gassers done right - marine builder with track record, all forged internals, built to last etc and somehwere in the 550 HP range is $15k these days per side....used 3126s might be close but then I need gears that candle it and of course my gas genny has to go.
Someday = when I can swing it - if not.... I'll just get my gassers rebuilt by a small local shop for $12k and cross my fingers.

Still love the boat and since my Dad and I did so much work on her - I can't get myself to part with it.....it's gotten personal.

Stay warm up there and keep in touch.

Cheers!

 

BTW- like the new arch!

 

Harley 4 Sale
I saw Martin's Harley 46' listed 4 sale on Coastaloffshore.com @ $199,000. Looks great as ususal, he did such a good job on refurb. Quite a boat for the money if you can deal with owning a Harley. Wonder why he is selling? He seemed stoked with the project and had high hopes for more improvements. Maybe his use for offshore fishing moved him to a wider beam. I know when we run 60 miles out and stop to troll on rough day, it can be uncomfortable. Remember the original hull was an old 8' wide cigarette and HH just made it taller & wider @ the same time, but bottom Vee did not change. There are your engines Swamp. Just offer them a low price for the boat, put the engines & genny in yours and we could all use spare parts off the rest of it to keep us going. BTW Swamp that is not a new arch shown in recent photos, that is original HH work from the 80's. I was just showing Steve a close up cause he is planning a new arch. How is that coming Steve? I will definately be contacting you Swamp in near future. If I can close this bizness deal soon I will be taking a well deserved S. Fla. vacation.

 

Hey Guys,

Glad you are back working Oliver. I bet you were driving your wife nuts. I know I would be. I work alot, I know my wife appreciates that in many ways! I did tell her I would take part of today off. I'm still working on it.

Boat: I finally did get the port engine converted to EFI. I t runs just as good as the other side most of the time. I found it vapor locking under certain circumstances. I have ran the fuel return back to the suction side of the low pressure pump and so far so good. I think the root cause is from the exhaust on that engine runs hotter. You cannot put your hand on the riser. This makes that side of the engine room hotter causing vapor lock. So I think the raw water pump is not moving enough water eventhough it has a new impeller. I have ordered a new one ande will install ASAP.
Other than the above issue, the EFI is awsome. My total fuel consumption is down 20%. Total gph at cruise is now 32gph compared to 40+ prior to conversion. Instant starts, no warm up before putting in gear, rock solid idle, instant throttle response, etc. etc. etc. I will never go back to carbed engines.
Radar Arch: They finally finished it and I installed it a few weeks ago. I don't have any good pictures yet. As soon as I do I will get them posted. It turned out very nice. It really fits well with the overall look of the boat. Now I need to let my budget cool some and start shopping for gadgets to mount on the new arch.

Swamp: A good friend of mine just purchased a used 500 EFI Merc and is pulling out a 2006 496HO with less than 150 hours on it. I think he is going to ask around 8,000 for it. This is an OEM Merc engine that has never been apart. That would be an economical, reliable way to get your boat running with some modern power.

Just an idea.

That's all I got

Steve

 

thanks Guys

Hey Steve how tough was it to go EFI? There is a guy on craigs here locally selling two complete efi kits for 502s....if your fuel economy is that much better they would pay for themselves in short order.

Any tricks to it? Did you have to change your CAMs?

Thanks

Olivier

 

No tricks really, I just used a Merc manual to make sure I adapted the existing wiring harness to the EFI harness. I used the existing low pressure pump to feed the EFI fuel system, and was good to go. The engines are 1996 Marine Power 415hp 502's. I'm sure that they are the exact same base engine as the Merc 502 Magnum EFI. So I was very confident that no engine changes were needed. So far they are running excellent, I see no future changes needed.
I did buy all used stuff off of Ebay. One manifold was corroded at the head to manifold mating surface. I cleaned it and coated it with Defcon which is very similar to JB Weld. Then sent it to a machine shop and had it shaved. I was leary of it at first untill I tried knocking it down with a belt sander. No go. Belt sander would not touch it. I'm sure it is a permanent fix.
Again Oliver you should call my friend and make him an offer on his 496. If I was going to repower, that is the engine I would use. They are very common these days and run a little more efficient than the 502's.
I did enjoy the conversion process. But that is my thing. I own a auto and marine repair shop, so I'm am very comfortable doing projects like this. Also I can always get one of my techs to help me with the heavy stuff. As I did on this project.
If you decide to tackle it Oliver I would be glad to coach you along. You should ask the Craigslist guy if they are the cool fuel model. That would be preferred. But you can modify the earlier models if needed. Make sure that they are complete with every nut and bolt. Some of the hardware is NLA. And look for corrosion. That can be handeled as mentioned above, but it would make a good negotiation tool. Nothing is better than just turning a key and she fires right up with a solid idle!


Steve

 

heading for the keys

Hey guys,
I might have gotten lucky. Flew to palm Beach on Monday. Spend all day today cleaning, fueling, getting food and beer and fishing stuff. Leaving for the Keys tomorrow and the forecast is perfect, sunny, all high 70's and low 80's with light winds for several days. Meeting friends who rented house in Islamorada and maybe then to Key West. Got almost 2 weeks to kill. 1 week with son & friend & 1 week with girlfriend. l needed to catch a good break from rough winter. Fingers are crossed that this is it! Swamp I may try to catch you on the way back. maybe Saturday 4-10. Will be checkin in to see if youre around. Will post photos if I they are worthwhile. Keep your eyes open. Lee

 

Awsome Lee, have a great trip. We want to see some pictures!

 

still in the keys

still stuck in the keys. it's rough but im surviving. verrrrry relaxing. boat running great ( except had to replace a main battery switch) only $44 for switch and I installed. it seemed like a big problem becasue so much stuff stopped working, including 1 engine. Luck was on my side. not much fishing to report on, relaxing too much. We might pass on Key West. I am travelling with some young guns & they are talking about south beach. At least that is on my way back to Palm Beach. My son has tried to post some photos. Some @ World Wide Sportsman/Islamorda Fish Co. some @ Holiday Isle Resort. Will try to check in later. Hey swamp I'm still gonna try to touch base next week on my way back.

 

Lee - nice meeting you and your girlfreind - boat looks great and those diesels sounded awesome rolling away from my dock. Cool to see two HArley Superstars side by side.....why didn't I shoot a picture?????????

Amazing how much work you did on the old girl....well worth the effort if you can keep blasting around at 40mph and she stays together. Hope to get my "trawler" up and running soon and then who knows - diesels might be in her future too. Safe travels!

 

Hey Swamp. Great to meet you too. Nice place and soo close to inlet. Have faith, you got a good hull and you been doin the right stuff on a budget to keep her ready for a refurb when the time is right. Just think how much you will save by me tellin you all the dumb stuff I did wrong. I sure hope things fall in place for you to get a set of Cats for her someday. I have owned mine 20+ years, 17 with just 2 sets of Cat engines and the ones in her still got plenty of life. (my first set is in an offshore sportfish and still used frequently!)
And as you know, we do use her alot. The trip I was on when I stopped in your place ended up being a little over 400 miles not including some trolling. I did not see rain for 12 days straight, aint S. Fla. great in the spring. I usally haul boat back to Md. by mid-May but might leave her down until June. Got Bahamas on my mind. BTW anytime you want to go on the trailer for few days for service just let me know. I got truck/trailer in Palm Beach probably 45 min. or less drive time to your place. It would be my pleasure. I usually bring my mechanic friend down for a trip every year, maybe he will go thru your drives for you on the cheap. He is very talented and a great guy. I got all the Arneson tools and lots of spare parts, you could just use my parts and replace what you use. Best of luck, I might see you again before I haul back north for summer. BTW still tring to get some photos from trip off my son's camera. Hope to post them soon. Lee