Harley 42'

Thanks Steve - I appreciate you looking out for me....missed this one though. I have one healthy trim tab if you need it....port side. Olivier

 

Welcome and good luck with your research - I fear you are comparing apples and oranges. The Harley is a unique animal capable of cruising speeds in the 40's and an older battleship Bertram (depending on model) might give you 18 knots.

The Harley is pretty tough but a few guys on here have had some hull issues like delaminating Kevlar - of course one of them (yeah Lee - I mean you) is a maniac and likes to troll for wahoo at 45 knots in rough seas and has managed to break some big parts. He brought in a marine architect and shored up stringers, reglassed the bottom, strengthened stringers and bulkheads. He has written his woes up in detail in here and frankly, a couple more hull modifications and he will have wave piercing designed Harley ROCK ON Lee!

The rest of us who keep it under 40 and cruise in calmer seas only have cosmetics to gripe about - the build quality (other than the hull) is pretty weak so we are constantly fixing minor things that rattle loose. Many have done complete interior rework, others keep it stock but fix as needed.

Again, read this thread - great info in it. But keep in mind, a deep vee surface drive boat is not going to be a stable trolling machine like an old school Berty - this thing has a 10-foot beam and super deep vee - it is a cigarrette boat hull with a taller cabin - not a 14-foot beamed fishing battlewaggon designed for stability when trolling and drifting.

 

Swampy project update:
Pulled 502s and got to work:
1) One stringer was soft so tore into it, got to hard wood, rebuilt and reglassed.
2) Stbd arneson full of sea water for more than a year (MY fault) - pulled for rebuild - got about $1400 in parts and labor to fix it and replaced the seals in the other Arnie as a preventative measure. If ever you blow a seal, put a plastic bag over the shaft end and keep the gear oil full or it will cost you (lesson learned).
3) Drive shafts were is really bad shape - one ujoint was ready to let go (would be ugly while under way). Had them rebuilt by pros and shortened about 8 inches so I can move the engines back a bit and tap into stronger part of the stringers. B>O>A>T - $900. These shafts are rated for big torque so if I ever go 540cu or deisels they will be ready.
4) FWC 454s are running well and ready to go - installed one this past weekend. Waiting on the transom mounted arneson housing to get new bearings before I put in second engine. PITA but at least I will know what I have when I am done.
5) Trim tabs are gone - eaten up by electrolysis. When plugged into shore power with the boat on the hard I literally was getting shocked when I touched the drives.....bought a galvanic isolator for shore power but will be rewiring all the thruhull grounding to zinc as well since something is not right. Shopping for used trim tabs......might go without for a year due to budget constraints and she might not have the power to run on plane anyway so we might be a trawler for a while.....but diving, fishing, and overnights will become part of lives again.
6) removed exhaust thruhulls due to leaking and found the transome core to be very solid - no issues at exhaust tubes or at trim tabe thrubolts or at the stbd arneson housing when we pulled it - GOOD news finally!

Over-all:
Frankly I am not convinced the arenesons are designed to stay in salt water year round. Cant convince the cocaptain to get a lift (will impair the view) so looking for other alternatives to protect the drives and steering rams. If I come with anything I'll let you guys know.


Should get her back in the water in next 2 weeks......wish me luck Boys and Girls and be well.

 

Thank you for the great welcome Swaplizard. The information you provided is right I am comparing apples to oranges I think im asking is it possible to troll with this boat and how bad would it be and if anyone has done it and how bad is it from there experience . After hearing how much fun you guys have with this boat not sure I would be trolling much. From the inside would you say the harley is bayliner quality or much better. by the way I also emailed Howard Harley for some information and this is what they emailed me below

Hi Andy,

We don't have much from that long ago, that's getting close to 30 years ago.


Most fuel tanks were either four of the 75 gallon tanks (300 gal total) or
four of the 93 gal tanks (around 370 total).

If the boat has Arnesons, it would have twin GM Power Steering pumps on it
(usually), or at least one on one engine, and Char-Lynn Helm Steering Helm,
and Arneson Steering and Trim Cylinders.

If you want more, you can provide us with a specific serial number, and any
owner history you have, and we can go back and dig thru the files, and
possibly pull the file of the original owner; we charge $100 per hour for
this sort of work, with a minimum charge of 1 hour. We might possibly find
a wiring diagram from that far back, but can't guarantee without just doing
some digging thru the archives. Let us know if you want to pursue this.

With kindest regards,
Harley Boat Corporation
Howard D. Harley, President
300 S. First Ave, Bartow, FL 33830
863-533-2800 ofc 863-712-5106 cell

 

I went from a Donzi 33 foot center console with twin outboards the Harley - it had a 9 foot beam and rocked and rolled so much when anchored for diving it was brutal. The Harley seems MUCH better. guess it depends on what you are used to. I dont fish much so I'll let the fisherman comment on trolling etc.

 

Andy, welcome to site. My 1987 harley is the "pizzacutter", I'm Lee. I have owned it for 20+ years and I had some nice stuff (formula/blackfin, etc before). If you have the time/money/patience to re-furb an old Harley properly you can get one heck of a unique boat that will do a lot of stuff including off-shore fishing. While it is true that a lot of my repairs/upgrades were do to poor design/construction, many of the repairs would have applied to most any vessel that was used like mine. I don't care who made it (espeically 20 years ago), if you pound out rough seas @ 40 knots frequently stuff will break. However as mentioned I particularly found that the stringer system left much to be desired and I spent a bundle fixing it. But here I am 20+ years later still pounding it out. One thing I did to help my cause was to take frills out of cabin (out goes the ice-maker,TV, HEAVY teak doors, etc.) I still have all the creature features I need for staying aboard, just not real flashy. More basic, lots of white starboard for cabinet doors, but still very presentable. Nice head compt. shower, etc. Most older Harleys are for sale on the cheap (depending on power) so if you budget some real $$ for re-furb you could end up with a boat that really has no equal on the market today for anywhere under $400,000 or more. Don't know if you care or not but the 42' Harley is VERY trailerable. I have standard 1 ton dually that gets the job done. Maryland to Palm Bch Fla. usually every other year or so, take about 2-3 hours longer than driving a car. Trailer is also a big $$ saver when you want to perform a little "do it yourself stuff" without paying boat yard costs. You mentioned cat 3208's. I am big Cat fan (been using 17 years) in this boat. They don't break much but when they do, fixes are pretty easy. If you wanna 40 knot, 40'+ boat with diesels to get out and fish with and have fun the Harley is a great choice. Just eval all of the expensive items, and throw in a budget for all the little stuff. If it meets your budget/schedule you might have bought you last boat. I am planning on getting another 20+ years outta mine. Best of luck to you.
Check out 4 new fuel tanks-hoping to get 20+ years out of them.

 

Harley

Hello Pizzacutter you answered all of my questions thank you thank you. I might be asking you alot of questions real soon . The thing that attracted me to this boat is the trailer for do it yourselfer . My buddy has a shop and he re-done a 28 foot bertram himself with some help from me so if I would take on anything like that the Harley meets alot of boating needs. again thank you and love your pix hope to see more ,inside of your boat. I am located on Kent Island Md are you close?

 

Lee - those tanks sure are PURDY Bro - nice work!

 

Does anyone know where the hull serial number is located on a Harley boat?? we cant find on transom

 

Harley Hull Number



Andy,

Ron Alexander here in Seattle. Welcome! My 1985 Superstar has the hull number on a large engraved black plastic placard located in the engine room on the bulkhead just in front of the stbd engine.

See attached pic. You can see it under the old battery chargers


Ron

 

Hull numbers

Thank you Ron I will take a look. How do you like the Harley compared to other boats?

 

Sorry Andy, I'm not the guy to ask that question. Other than a couple of ski boats that I had about 30 years ago, this is our first real boat. We live on Lake Washington near Seattle and we stay mostly in fresh water. Planning some trips this summer up into the San Juans but that can't compare to the off shore stuff that Swamp and Pizza go through. But we love the boat and wish we could use it more than we do.

 

Harkey

Hello Ron, thanks for the reply , well it sounds like you really enjoy the boat and since you could it your first real boat thats good enough for me. I hope you get time this year to use it

Andy

 

Wow I think I was drunk on last post Harkey instead of harley and could instead of called

 

LOL - mine is on a stainless steel plate about 6 inches long....I found it floating around in a drawer in galley - go figure?????

Keep us posted on your decision and progress..

cheers

Swampy