Harley 42'

[Guest]

Can anyone tell me information about the Harley 42' with cat 3126 with 420 hp surface drives number 8's. Any information about Harley boats I would like to know.

 

[67-LS1]

I've seen a few for sale on Yachtworld.com. I think they had the old 3208 Cats. Seems like a big heavy boat for it's size. I like them because they have so much cockpit space as opposed to your normal "***** boat". I also wonder how thewy perform with the Arneson's.
Dennis

 

[CaptPPan]

Hi,
I own a 27' Harley Center Console with a fixed surface drive. When I bought the boat I went to Florida and Met Howard Harley the builder, you may want to contact him also If you have questions about the boat your looking at. Unfortunately my boat is a one of a kind and I'm still working through some designe problems but I love the boat. The kevlar hull is solid but he's alittle lacking when it comes to finish work.
I've seen a few Harleys on BoatTrader.com. you may want to check there for price as well.

 

[S. Stoylen]

s.stoylen@c2i.net

Hi
I have a 42 Harley, with ASD-8's and Merlin 450 hp engines.
Boat is very light, only 13000# empty!
Handles like you wouldn't believe with the Arnesons
Of course, as some other guy mentioned, finish isn't the best.
Contact me for questions.

 

[Steve H]

Hello,

I also own a 42 Harley. It is powered by 415 hp gas engines with fixed surface drives. The drives are very, very basic. Just twin shafts going out the transom to extremely rugged struts with rudders behind them. The hull is built with a notch in the rear to accomodate the struts. The rudders are built on large brackets bolted to the rear transom. The handling below 40mph is great. Gets to be a handfull past 45mph, it will top out at 50mph if loaded light. It will bow steer at higher speeds, I think this is caused from 10 degree down angle of prop shafts lifting the stern. Boat was originally rigged with diesels. The lighter gas engines are letting the stern come up.

I've read quite a few negative comments on surface drives on this site. I admet that there is a learning curve as far as dock handling is concerned, but other than that I love em. Especially for a larger boat. I will get a pic up of the shfts props etc soon.

It weighs right at 14,000lbs dry according to nearby truck scales. I am more than satisfied with the current performance considering the size and weight. I will probably re power to diesels in a couple of years to increase the range. It will hold over 800 gallons of fuel. I think diesels would get me from San Diego to Cabo with out stopping for fuel, or maybe not. Right now I burn about 35 gph while running about 35mph. I think Diesels should burn about half of that.

Anyway, great site, hope to hear from any other Harley owners with performance numbers gas or diesel. Or anyone else.

Steve H

 

[Steve H]

This is the business end

 

[Lee Williams]

I recently installed 420 hp 3126 cats w/ arneson #8'S in a 42' Harley. Top speed 45 knot, cruise 38 knot @ about 1.2 mpg.

 

[Steve H]

1.2 MPG? I was hoping it would be better than than that. I just installed Floscan fuel flow meters. I am getting .9 mpg lightly loaded according to the new gauges that are interfaced with a GPS. Got any pics og your engines and drives.

Steve H

 

[Lee Williams]

I will post some pics of engines & drives on the 42' Harley in a few weeks. Boat is currently on Chesapeake Bay running some supplies to an island construction site. The 1.2 mpg is about as good as it gets (I think). I have had boat for 15 years, 3 yr with 330 hp Merlin Diesels, 10 yr with Cat 3116 350 hp & 2 yr with Cat 3126 420 hp.

 

[capnvette]

42' harley 4-sale

42' Harley For Sale / 3126 Cats / Custom Aluminum, Vinyl And Stratoglass Mid-section Enclosure / Setup as fish/dive boat / $135k Obo

 

[martin@kroesche]

harley 46

I have a Halrey 46 which is almost copletely remodeled. We have gutted the boat and have completed the interior up to the helm station. It had 485hp DD's which i sold. I am adding 440hp yanmars....heres the deal...with the computer model i should be able to get close to 2miles per gallon at certian rpms....the DD ran 1800rpm at 32knots burning about the sam 32 gph, the yanmars weigh 3000lbs less with the same hp, accordingly it should be 2600rpms at 38knots burning, according to yanmar, 11gph, or 22 gph at 38knots. this is all determinate on the gear ratio, the prop etc. I searched every engine and the yanmar seems to be the best current fit. any thoughts?
I will change the props from the 3 blade clovers to 6 blade cleavers..any thoughts on that? I m looking for any input on my harley that will help my complete rebuild. I think that Howard Harley has a lot of problems but this boat will be an entire different machine when its done. The top end will easily reach 50 knots.

 

[Steve H]

Wow, old tread from the dead. What props are you running currently? I think that on larger boats the more blades the better. I've alway wanted to repower with Yanmars but it does'nt pencil out for me. I just installed a couple of Arnesons and pitched the fixed surface drive stuff. I have only ran it about an hour so far.I did not get much more high end but no more bow steer at high speeds. It was alot of work, but happy with results.
Did you just buy that boat? What is the difference betwenn the 42 and 46. Where is it longer? Cockpit, or cabin?

Steve H

 

[martin@kroesche]

harley 46

Steve:
I bought this boat in 2000. A friend of mine had it two years prior and bought it from the orginal owner. It was sold in 1990, custom built for a man in Freeport, Texas. He wanted the oversized motors so DD671-JT's were installed with the SP1200 Arneson drives. You can see pictures of my boat on yachttrader, it is the white boat. it is currently not for sale but the broker has not taken it down. the pictures are prior to the complete remodel. My boat, differn than yours, is set up for fishing with a tower and fighting chair.

After I bought the boat in 2000 i sent to the factory, Howard Harley, which was quite and adventure. I became completely famiiar with every aspect of the boat, end to end. Even though Howard is a complete idiot, i am stll a big fan of the boat hull, layout and design. The finish out has always been poor. Howard told me he built 6 of the 46 versions, there is the only other one i have ever seen on the intenet for sale in Fla. To answer your question, the additional lenght is in the cockpit. I have a trasom door and a glassed in platorm.

Recently I was invited on tour of the Fountain Facotry with Reggie Fountain. I have a great interst in fountain boat and currently own a center console fishing version(to hold me over during the remodel). What I realized is the simiarities of the boats. Fountain now sells, there state of the art boats, with yanmar and arneson drives. I will add more later.

Martin

 

[martin@kroesche]

harley 46

Steve:
Additional comments; The Harley has almost the same footprint as the newer boats in its class. With respect to your comments about the props....I had three blade 24" 23 pitch clovers. This created what surface drives call, "prop slap" or where the surface area of the prop slaps the water at higher rotation creating a vibration, sometimes severe. Since the Yanmars turn more RPM's this would be a real problem...this is why we will go to a 6 blade cleaver, the recommended prop. In my opinion, the best drive system for these types of boats is the Power Vent system. This effectivly tucks the props up in the hull....go to donsmithpowerboats.com or powervent .com and watch the videos...it is incredible. they back it up on the beach and drive it off, on a 45foot boat. There is a gentleman in Florida that has a 60 Harley, same design, 14' beam, 60 plus lenght. He added the power vent instead of the arnesons. You can see a picture of that Harley on the donsmith web site under powervents, other boats area. As far as cost of the yanmar, well, just look at what any comparable boat to yours cost.....they start in the 500's range new an only go up. The arnesons had a constant problem with seapage into the drive, related to leaving it in the water a long time. Did you buy new
drives or were they used? which model? I am sending mine to the factory for a rebuild and hopefull will solve my seal problem when we re-install them.

Please let me know any adverse or problematic situations you have encounted so that i an remodel around or repair it at this point.

Martin

 

[Steve H]

Martin


I have talked to Howard on the phone. He is a very interesting guy to say the least.

you can see from the pic in my earlier post that I had fixed surface drives prior to installing the Arnesons. This is very similar to the Power Vent System. I can tell you that my boat would not handle like the one in the video on the beach. Maybe it took them 20 tries to get that shot?
You are right about the cost of new boats vs updating mine to newer power. But I just don't use mine enough to justify spending 100,000 dollars on it and still have the same boat!
I think any drive will seep some if left in the water long enough. I think don't think that arnesons are any worse than others. Just make sure you haul it at least once a year and change all drive fluids. that will give you an indication of seepage before it has a chance to ruin anything.
I bought used drives. I made two good ones aout of three. Then I just purchased another used one that looks near new. I will keep it as a spare. They are the old 1720 drive. It is very similar to the ASD6. Same rating. I have not had any big problems as of yet. Other than the amount of work it took. I moved the engines aft about 18" at the same time. Also did a bunch of re rigging. The gears have a 10 degree down angle. I had to wedge the transom the get the correct shaft alignment. Otherwise it was a straight forward job that most people with reasonable skills could accomplish. I have only put about one hour of run time on the boat since to drives were installed. So I don't have much to report there except so far so good. very happy with the dock handling when compared to the old stuff. The bow steer at high speeds has disappeared. These were my main goals.
I have totally refurbished this boat over the last five years. New cabin, paint, and now drives and re rigged the engine room. I hope to put some serious hours on it this year! I will include a few pics of "The Project" or the effin boat as my wife calls it.

Steve Hixson