End of tunnel - OR a train?
 

I am doubting my decisions (and sanity) when it comes to my project Harley 42 that has consumed nearly every weekend for what seems like three years.

It started out as a fun project to get a decent "performance" cruiser boat with a cabin and A/C and the cool factor of arnesons (I just wanted to replace an old Donzi we outgrew) and I do not regret the two or three thousand hours my father and I spent working on wiring, plumbing, rotten floors, and interior cosmetic issues - quality time with Dad is never a bad thing.

Being a working slob with two kids in college the funds were tight and we did everything ourselves (even when it was daunting and a first attempt) except the motors.

I got a pair of 502s (425 hp?)from Bill's Marine in Ft Lauderdale and they have been the bane of my existence for more than three years. I have never been able to keep both motors running more than 10 hours at a time...hard parts breaking, distributors being eaten, rods broke, bearings spun, heads warped, and now an inexplicable lock up.

The boat has been towed three time in two years (never before in 20 years of boating have I been towed) and I had to return from the Abacos on one motor (200 miles) - the wife is done and I am having trouble convincing her to take another crack at it when we need to buy a car, tuitions are due, and it would mean a loan of some kind......it's a sickness.

Do I spend $5k to fix one motor and sell the boat as a runner or do I spend $12-15k and get everything motor-wise redone and verified, bump the HP a little and cross my fingers it wont puke again?

Talk me off the windowsill will ya?

go buy some run of the mill 454's and deal with going slow for a while... when the kids are out of college, get some 500's or something.

20 years without being towed is great....

Ditto to the above two quotes!

Cut your loses short and get ride of her.

Yes, but what should he do with the boat:D

Too funny - just what I needed

Swamp -you'd kick yourself if you got rid of the boat now after all youv'e put into it. I'm in the exact financial situation as you: kids, college and all. If you really need to, mothball it for a season, come up for air and do whatever you can to the boat that costs almost nothing. Maybe you could remove the motors, get the engine compartment re-squared away and find out exactly what needs to be done engine wise for the following winter. Like me, you're never gonna be the fastest rig on the water, so research what it will take to do your motors as a reliable pair of 450 hp mills. Treat your Harley as a fast express crusiser with offshore capabilities and do what the inboard guys do - drive their twin 300- 350 hp powered boats for multiple seasons with just routine maintenance. Best of luck to you - Jeff

I think I was towed twice in a year but I have never made it 20 years without being towed. While I have been thinking about it I can not remember having a single boat out of all of my boating years that did not get towed in sometime