Princess 435

[60F]

Hi, I am considering purchasing a Princess 435. She will be based at my house in Abingdon on Thames over winter and in London / south coast during the summer. The one that I am looking at has a fold down mast and a couple of brokers have indicated that although she has an air draft of 11'6" it should be possible to get her up as far as Oxford even though a couple of bridges near Abingdon are 12'6". However I would feel much happier if someone could confirm that they have actually managed to get up to either Abingdon or Oxford with one of these. I know that the previous version, the Princess 414 can as I have seen Imperial Princess upsteam of Abingdon bridge before - however I think that has an air drafyt of only 11'2".

Any advice would be greatfully received, particularly from Byron who I understand used to own a Princess 435.

I would also be interested to hear of any particular things to look out for. I understand so far that the engine mounting bolts are well worh checking, the gearboxes are difficult to get at and are also worth a good look, as is the generator that may be getting on a little now, and that, as with anything this age, all the windows need checking for corrosion and water ingress.

 

[PlanB]

I can't remember the precise numbers offhand, but seem to recall that when we were considering taking ours through the French canals, where heights can be 3.4 meters, not only would we have needed to lower the radar arch, but also remove the plastic coaming from the flybridge. And even then it was marginal. In the event, we chose to go round the outside to the Med instead. We've owned ours for eight years and are very happy.
I did post a response to your pal's enquiry on the Mobo forum, but if you have any specific queries feel free to PM.

 

[oldgit]

The Princess website is quoting 11 6" for AD without arch.We took a Fairline Bravo(about 13ft) up to Bray with the arch intact,tightest spot was Windsor Bridge,so you should get to there at the very least.Would have thought Folly would be the end of the road.

 

[teddington_lock]

Worth remembering that the published bridge heights are all measured from headwater.

Most Thames locks run a good few inches above headwater , for instance our lock cut bridge is quoted as 18' 6" , but as in the summer we run at between 4 and 6 above , actual available air draught is 18' 0" to 18' 2" ....

Love the Princess 435 , the last of the 'blocky' Princesses before they all became like jelly moulds.

 

[Portland Billy]

Thames to Oxford

The limits to Oxford re-Air Draught are governed by Cookham cut bridge - I have done the trip countless times with an AD of 12 feet.

 

[LimL]

Low bridges on the way to Oxford

Done forget Culham lock cut footbridge, 3.78m slightly lower than Cookham.

 

[byron]

I had a 435. Excellent sea boat. However you will NOT get it up to Abingdon. The 1st bridge you encounter after Days Lock is too low even with everything down. On paper it is OK. In reality the shape of it means your screens will catch.

 

[Brayman]

...and the Appleford Railway bridge can be a problem with differing river levels from one day to the next.

 

[rosssavage]

Don't know about the air draft as I have a P385 (which gets all the way up to Oxford with the arch down..) but the engine mounts are critical. The original ones (assuming TAMD 61A) are known to fail and should have been replaced with uprated mounts on a Princess recall. Mine weren't, and I had 5 of 8 fail - only discovered following a mishap at sea when the engines had to be moved. The mounts are £250 EACH, so it's £2,000 for the mounts, plus engineers costs to install. The uprated mounts have a large nut and large threaded collar under the engine bracket, the old style ones are a constant diameter bolt from the base of the mount all the way to the top.

Edit: Forgot to mention, last summers trip from Windsor to Oxford had me bouncing off the bottom all the way from Benson lock to Oxford - resulting in one bent prop!! So, too much water = bridge / boat interface issue, too little water = boat / river bed interface issue...