Harley 42'

NICE!!!!!

She is running really well for a big girl running gassers - outstanding!

3500rpms 38 mph, 1.1 gph and nothing went boom. Life is good!

I've been hunting for a pair of complete 502s to pump up a bit and get into that 500-525 HP range but no luck so far. Another option is to pick a pair of stroked 496 long blocks and go from there.

Great to hear her running so well!

Cheers

Swamp

 

Success - found a pair of fresh water 502s to build up!

 

October fishing

Trying to get in a few days fishing before we head for the shop. Gotta keep working on the Harley!
Oct, 3 was beautiful 60 miles off OC. Got to see so much sea life. Check pics of small pilot whales. So cool to compare with Steves's whale photos. Nice to know there is a Harley on both coasts watchin whales.
Anyway after trolling for Tuna all morning we put out planers & weights for wahoo & got hit but 4 at same time. managed to get 1 in the boat! About 50lb. Ono is the "best" eating fish around these parts so the grill is on.
After burning off some fuel we crusied about 34 knots coming home & turned it up a bit more inside. The GPS is showing 40.1 knots inside the inlet
Hope all is well for everyone. Post some updates & pics!

 

40 knots AND whales - SWEET! hope I can get mine running that well though whales in S Florida .... not so much.eet! Hope to start tearing down my new to me 502s in a couple of weeks and get them in in the new year.

 

So I have taken out all the floors & seats including the center support. The rear floor is now cut in 2 pieces and is being refabed into a "gull wing" style so that you can access 1 engine & still walk to helm. Wish me luck. I am sniffing a lot of toxic stuff so my threads may gget wobbly.
Also got canvas guys (& girls) doing a new travel/storage cover for trip to Fla. While at it letting them do all the interior cushions in sunbrella fabrics. Looking good so far.
How about those 2 in floor boxes back by stern. What do u guys do with them. I ttried pluggin them but they still get water in them so I just run with the plugs out. When sitting still I got 20 plus gallons of water in there, when on plane it runs out? over 10 minutes I guess. I am considering putting a "floor" in them and foaming under the floor. I would them put a small drain thru the trasnsom into engine room for rain and spray water. Any thoughts. ?

 

Dude - you just can't leave well enough alone can you? She looks great - keep it up and let me know if you are coming to swampland this winter.

As you know I took a break from Harley-related work for a while. The new to me 454s run great - havnt tuned the props in anticipation of replacing the 454s with 502s I am having built this fall....trying to duplicate what Steve did and get reliable 550HP with EFI if I can swing it. Not sure my borg warners will handle the power and ideally I would like to get away from the counter-rotating engine scenario (I lose Stnd engine and I have no power steering as it is now.....So keeping eyes open for good used gears that can do the engine direction switch.

Otherwise, got a tonneau cover made out of the same fabric as my top to keep rain out of engine room. Also having a bimini extension made to give me shade when at anchor or tooling down the ICWW slow - of course to do it right I have to shore up my rod holders.....the gunnels are now foam encapsulated glass and will not handle the tension if wind picks up - so need to fab some backing plates and some sort of stronger top plate....it never ends.

Your photos are motivating so ... rod holders this weekend .... some sort of trim indicators on the dash too if I can swing it.

Cheers

Swampy

 

BTW I agree with you on the two subfloor baitwell things - I dont really fish live bait and I can't use them for storage because they get so nasty from rain water accumulation (if plug is in) and since my Harley is in salt 24x7x365 it is a barnacle trap and causes extra weight when water is flowing in. Can't keep em water tight - throw fish we catch in a cooler....so kind of a waste.

I thought about putting in a small bildge pump under a rubber web sub floor bottom and leaving plug in all the time. Could use it to store things like engine oil, fluids, maybe some of those air tight tool boxes for engine parts????

The bigger one I thought I could put my deflated dingy and 2-stroke in but frankly access under the rear bench seat is too hard and when we want the tender we bring it inflated on the dive platform. Had cases of water in there for a while.

Show pictures of what you do - I am open to ideas. Hate to waste the space but frankly it is already wasted. Too bad I cant fit a smaller/lighter genny in here and free up the space under cabin stairs for interior stuff.

BTW again - anyone redone their stairs with something "cooler"?

 

Finally coming up for air from floor job! Put in 9 days with at least 1 guy doing 8 hours a day. sometimes more (mainly me). Had some good help from some great guys-Joey & Steve- couldn't do it without em.
As you know it is not just the hours doing the proposed project, it is all the other defedts that u detect while spending time upside down in a Harley bilge (ugly!). So anyway lots of upgrades including re-wire of trim & tab pumps, bilge pump & alarms, etc. One real time/material upgrade was the #*&^%$! gutter supports that Harley built to hold up the floor hatches. They are way under-built and required mega hours to re-inforce both with fiberglass & stainless steel brackets. Improved all weatherstip and drainage ports, etc....
So anyway, gonna paint floor with awl-grip next and then start some re-installs. New storage/travel cover done..nice. Second Furuno moniotor screen going in next week, with weather & other stuff. One more project is to go on the stands for a week or so to sand & fair bottom & paint....
Hope that be all & then head for FLA (Swampland). Trying to take off this winter (officially a senior citizen now) & spend time fish & cruise..
Sorry for all the pics.. I don't know how to reduce. Hope it helps all.

Any other Harley owners got any good info or pics??

 

Nice work Lee! You and your Bros have skills - I am not good at glass work but am learning I guess.....some A-hole managed to make such a big wake going down my canal that he broke my whip and banged up Stbd rear corned up. Guess I need to break out the grinder and do some glassing too .... and floor seems a bit mushy under rear bench....so probably have to pull the top "skin" recore and glass back in this winter.

Not as brave as you when it comes to these major mods but really like the idea!

 

Well Swamp, I heeded your advice & added pumps & floats to the floor boxes. Of course when I was drilling thru transom for thru hulls & underwater lights, I found water trapped in transom, so that creates another repair! I will add weatherstriping to the box lids and see how dry it might stay in there. I don't expect to keep all water out, but I am hoping to store stuff like spare anchor, gaff-boat hook, ladder etc.
Just added the 2nd VX2 screen with all the goodies like 2nd transducer, Sat weather, etc.
Hope to reinstall bow rail this weekend. That gonna take some time cause I gonna drill out all holes to about 1/2", refill with thick epoxy, and then redrill again. Still got a little bottom work & paint to do but my list be getting smaller. Hope to be in S. Fla by Christmas.

 

So I guess everybody is busy. Hope that is good. Just back from Florida. Boat was delv on 12 -9-13 & I left for MD 0n 1-9-14. I pretty much used boat everyday including fishing off Palm Beach on Christmas Eve.
Our high lite was Palm Beach to Key West & back over 8 days. Lots of fishing & fun! I got hardly no pics buy my GF got plenty on her phone. I try to get some from her. BTW the trip was 487 miles round trip and we used 450 gallons diesel. That is good by me. Swamp.. stopped by ur house & talk to ur Dad. Maybe I catch u next time!!

 

Hi lee,

It sounds like you had a great trip. I want to get mine down there so bad, but life keeps getting in the way. Please do post some pictures. I would love to hear where you stayed on your cruise to the Keys, and what you liked and didn't like about about staying there.
I haven't done much boating lately. Just fixing little odds and ends that I had been neglecting due to all the engine issues over the last year or so. I have about 75 hours on the latest set with no real issues, so hopefully that is all behind me. I have to re seal one drive due to the prop shaft getting fishing line wrapped around it. I'm not looking forward to that at all.
It was 14 degrees out on the last boat ride, it was amazed how fast the ice built up on the back of the boat and swim step. I bet it weighed 200 lbs or more. I thought the boat was acting different, but didn't realize why until we got back to the boathouse.
Awesome job on the dash by the way. I know I like having a 12" screen, I'm sure having two is eve better.

Let's hear from the rest of the Harley owners. What is the status on the other "projects"

Steve

 

Will I guess all is quiet this winter. I spoke with HH and he told me that they had just shipped the first 40' Center Console to Cannada. It has some Toyota Diesels.
I just returned from 2 weeks in the Keys. Lots of fun, boat running great.
Have a few photos but they are on iphone which I just got and not sure how to computer load yet. I was in Islamorada when 58 go fasts came in from Miami boat show. They had lots of new stuff Cats, 4 & 5 engine outboards, pretty cool. Some claimed 150 mph +..
Here is a cool thing that happened. We were trolling in Ocean North of Ft Lauderdale. A big center console was passing about 1/2 mile away, he took a sharp turn and circled us, then left. About 90% sure it was a 42' Harley with CC and big hard top. It had the euro transom and was light green in color. Anybody know the boat??
Will try to post photos later... Lee

 

It's a bit quiet.

Went downstream to visit friends on Saturday. It was in the 70's and a little rainy, but the water was pretty calm, and boat is still running good.
What's everyone else up to? Any progress being made on the project boats?

Steve

 

Hey Steve glad to see u out on the boat... Florida was great.. We based out of Palm Beach but Lots of time in the Keys and a bit in Miami & Ft Lauderdale. Logged over 1,000 miles with no breakdowns !! This was my first year using a hauler.. He had Ford F450 and charge $2500 for everything 1100 miles.. I still had my dually in Fla so I could move boat as needed for storage.. Just got back few weeks ago and moved boat to Chesapeake Bay for crab season opening.. Will bring to OCean City soon. Planning a NC trip in few weeks.. Oregon Inlet.
Bummer that no body is reporting any project progress. I am gonna hunt down Darryl in W Fla.. He had a great structural thing going that should be complete. Hope everybody have great summer