The Hamlett Project

[Hammer]

Congrats mike. Turned out awesome. But please, please, please change out those rear tie down straps

Tie down straps will go away when the drive is on

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Looks bad ass. Nice work!

 

[ChrisV]

Very nice! Interior is clean and simple.

 

[28Eliminator]

Lookin great Mike!!

 

[Hammer]

Lookin great Mike!!

Might be done this week!

 

[Hammer]

Getting closer. The Teague reservoir was too tall and hit the hatch, we had to cut it down to make it clear the Hatch. Panel is wired. Hopefully we will se a drive on it this week. Engine bay is a bit dusty from the interior shop.

 

[UltraLucky]

Great to see this so close to completion. Who is doing the final tuning on the EFI, D1?

 

[Hammer]

Great to see this so close to completion. Who is doing the final tuning on the EFI, D1?

Yes. D1. The next time I see the boat will be at the launch ramp ready for a lake tune… Can’t wait!

 

[BUDMAN]

Yes. D1. The next time I see the boat will be at the launch ramp ready for a lake tune… Can’t wait!

If you can’t make the lake test mike I’d be willing to take care of it for you. Just say’n

 

[Ballyhoo]

boat is looking good

 

[Hammer]

boat is looking good

Thank you!

 

[rivergames]

Fuck Ya. Looks Good Brudda!

 

[BUDMAN]

Yes. D1. The next time I see the boat will be at the launch ramp ready for a lake tune… Can’t wait!

You get that water test in?

 

[Hammer]

You get that water test in?

No…. I’m in Florida for work all week. I might be able fit in the Miami Boat show though. .

 

[RiverDave]

Been driving by it last couple days.. they are working on it

 

[BUDMAN]

Is anyone else excited to see this on the water?

 

[Hammer]

Is anyone else excited to see this on the water?

I am!! We ordered the foot throttle yesterday and they are working on the trim switch at the helm. Someone needs to disconnect their phone. Too many boats taking up their time and its taking away the attention/time my boat needs!

 

[pull-on]

Is anyone else excited to see this on the water?

I sure am. Can't wait to check it out in person.

 

[240Hallett]

I am!! We ordered the foot throttle yesterday and they are working on the trim switch at the helm. Someone needs to disconnect their phone. Too many boats taking up their time and its taking away the attention/time my boat needs!

So… Two weeks??
Can’t wait to see it Mike!

 

[Hammer]

So… Two weeks??
Can’t wait to see it Mike!

I hope so!!! I need to pick up my truck with the new transmission. Evidently my 2500 felt left out when I was cutting checks for the Vector, it decided to it wanted a new tranny while I was in Havasu moving the boat...

 

[OCMerrill]

Looks amazing, scratch that...it looks Kustom.

 

[Hammer]

Bumping this thread…. I thought long and hard about just letting it go and enjoying the boat.

So here it goes-
Bought a used XR for a good deal and had it installed, I then Brought the boat home to look into lifter noise that wasn’t going away, I decided to finish some of it myself, work and family priorities were taking up my time so I figured I’d call Dustin at Menace Marine in Castaic to see if he could button up a few things, I’d always heard great things about him
And he was in town, so I could stop by anytime to check in on progress if I had to. He took it on and had it water ready in a week after diagning the ECU was bad. Even went as far as copying me in the Email to show me the facts. He had nothing to hide. He did everything he promised and in the timeline he said.

Dustin at Menace Marine in Castaic gets all the credit in the world to getting this boat on the water in a week or so after diagnosing a bad ECU. I’m not sure how an ECU goes bad when I bought it brand new and it had never been used, when we dynod the motor they used their own ECU and harness. I can only assume that the ECU on the engine isn’t the one I handed over. None the less, Holley confirmed I needed a new one and wouldn’t warranty the one I sent them.I’m not going to go into details of The Who,what, where,why’s and why didn’t this happen etc…. I bought a new ECU and the engine was tuneable which put us into position to diagnose the noisy lifters. We went over the lash and they got better, good enough to finally lake test it.

We got to the ramp and the boat had no power after running the boat on the trailer. Took it back to Dustin’s to track down why it had no power, yanked the interior out. Turns out the hot wire to to the fuse panel had a shitty connection and with the slightest touch would fall off the connector. SMH… Which led me to crawl under the dash later to find out none of my new lights were wired before the Interior went in. Fixed the hot and headed back to the ramp. Pulled it off the trailer and a steering hydraulic line was backwards I couldn’t steer. Blew power steering fluid all over the engine bay. Ugh. Fixed it and finally got out on the water.

Once on the water I found out my gas gauge didn’t work nor did my new GPS Speedo. What a mess, brand new interior had to be pulled out to button up these few things. I’ll deal with it later. Disappointed to say the least. But first lake test….

No wiring to the bow light..

Diagnosing the bad connection on the hot wire.

Finally able to tune it on the water…

The lake test went well but the lifter noise wasn’t going away. We decided to order new Johnson lifters and pushrods and put them in. Dustin knocked it out in a few days and we were good to go. I ran a 26p which was way too small with Dustin snd the tabs weren’t working either. The boat was all over the place but ran and felt good. Turns out the ground wasn’t wired properly. I wasn’t surprised anymore.

I had a goal of taking it to the Delta the last week of July. We were close. The weekend before my good friend Steve took it out to make sure it was ok. I had @pullon grab a spare 28p for my 300 and bring home to run it on a Sunday with my buddy. Was running great with no valve terrain noise until it wasn’t, got a loud rattle and my heart sank… had to be towed in…

We brought it home and pulled the valve cover off the port side and the #7 cylinder exhaust side poly lock came loose. Go figure. We pulled the rocker and pushrod out and everything looked fine. Checked the lash on the rest of the cylinders and they were good and tight. Put it back together and fires it up on the trailer. No noise and everything sounded good. We we’re headed to the delta. I just needed to get a fuel sending unit which Dustin had in stock and get the tabs working before I left. Done And done I swapped out the GPS antenna while I was there and now it works . I decided to rewrire the trailer and put new bearings in before we left.


Off to the Delta for a week of shakedowns to see what else it was going to need.

Idling out Disco Bay Marina

Made it to the house.

Grant Helping me with bearings..

Reese excited the night before we left knowing the “Yellow Boat” was ready..

To be continued… week long at the Delta.

 

[Hammer]

I Have not bumped this thread in awhile….

I decided to re work the water pick up through the drive(the pick up was on the trim tab)and add interior lights, I also had a pretty substantial water leak through the turn fin so Menace Marine in Castaic took care of that and fixed the speedo recall. I must of had a few cocktails discussing the scope of work because it came home with a new -2 shorty lower! .

Dustin at Menace Marine dialed in the drive and tuned the engine for me as well. I’d recommend him to anyone! A strait shooter with pricing and timelines.


Hopefully I’ll get a trip to Parker before May

Next up is a new trailer.

 

[hallett3]

I Have not bumped this thread in awhile….

I decided to re work the water pick up through the drive(the pick up was on the trim tab)and add interior lights, I also had a pretty substantial water leak through the turn fin so Menace Marine in Castaic took care of that and fixed the speedo recall. I must of had a few cocktails discussing the scope of work because it came home with a new -2 shorty lower! .

Dustin at Menace Marine dialed in the drive and tuned the engine for me as well. I’d recommend him to anyone! A strait shooter with pricing and timelines.


Hopefully I’ll get a trip to Parker before May
View attachment 1202901
Next up is a new trailer.

Give impute on two inch lower if it made a difference. Would love to hear. Thinking of doing it to my vector. Boat looks good. Who’s doing the trailer ?

 

[Livewire Fabworks]

Give impute on two inch lower if it made a difference. Would love to hear. Thinking of doing it to my vector. Boat looks good. Who’s doing the trailer ?

Looking at throwing a -2 on my 255 as well. Heard some good things from guys that have put them on their 240's.

 

[Done-it-again]

Looking at throwing a -2 on my 255 as well. Heard some good things from guys that have put them on their 240's.

I would have to agree on the 240’s as those drives are stuffed in the water. I had thought about it when I had mine, but with a 502mpi it would have been better putting the money towards a low hour blue Merc.

 

[Livewire Fabworks]

I would have to agree on the 240’s as those drives are stuffed in the water. I had thought about it when I had mine, but with a 502mpi it would have been better putting the money towards a low hour blue Merc.

Yeah my 255 has the drive stuffed also. I have a 540 in it so figured next move would be the shorty.

 

[Done-it-again]

Yeah my 255 has the drive stuffed also. I have a 540 in it so figured next move would be the shorty.

I would then, should notice a difference.

 

[Hammer]

Give impute on two inch lower if it made a difference. Would love to hear. Thinking of doing it to my vector. Boat looks good. Who’s doing the trailer ?

I’ll build the trailer with the help of my brother in law. Or the mad skillz guy. He did a great job on my brothers rayson.

I want the trailer to come out like this-

 

[hallett3]

I’ll build the trailer with the help of my brother in law. Or the mad skillz guy. He did a great job on my brothers rayson.

I want the trailer to come out like this- View attachment 1203492

I dig it lol

 

[Hammer]

I like it lol

- I couldn't find the thread with those pictures. Send them over to me!

 

[hallett3]

- I couldn't find the thread with those pictures. Send them over to me!

The rims are 18x9.5

 

[hallett3]

 

[Hammer]

View attachment 1203597
View attachment 1203596

Thank you! I dig your vector. I debated going with your seats but I didn't want to be the same.

Triple axle with the same stance(Different wheels though) and I'll change a few things athletically so it's not identical.

Any idea what the dimensions are of the fenders?

 

[hallett3]

Thanks for the compliments. The fenders are 96”x12 polished stainless steal. The tongue weight is a bit light with the tri axle. A lot has to do with the 18” rim height if that makes any sense. Just make sure you go far back as possible with the rear axle. I could have cheated about 3 more inches to the rear, but don’t know if If that would have made a difference on tongue weight. But it tows so bad ass. I don’t think I would know if it’s doing 100 mph in tow lol. I love the torsion bar axles and disc brake set up.

 

[hallett21]

Great now I want a new trailer lol

 

[ChrisV]

View attachment 1203597
View attachment 1203596

Beautiful! What size tires are those? Definitely motivation right there.

 

[hallett3]

Thanks for the compliment. Tires 265/40/18.

 

[Hammer]

Great now I want a new trailer lol

I almost regret asking Hallett3 to post his trailer. Now I want to tear my boat down and re do the transom rigging.

Beautiful Vector @hallett3