Fairline or Princess?

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simonjames

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I am looking at selling my yacht and going into motorboating, as my wife & youngest son are absolutely sick of sailing. I am looking at purchasing a Fairline phanton 43 or a Princess 45 circa approx 2001 onwards. I will have a budget of approximately £230,000.00
As I have very limited experiance of motor boats I would appreciate any advice/ pitfalls on both these models.
I would be using the boat for coastal trips of approx 30 miles and cross channel trips possibly twice a yaer from Plymouth where we have a berth.
I would be very grateful for any info/fuel consumption figures etc
Thanks in anticipation Simon
 
Buy a Fairline - you will not be disappointed. If you want to make this a simple migration, call Essex Boat Yards and do a part exchange on your yacht for a Fairline - have them moor the two boats next to each other and ship over all of your gear.
 
We we extremely pleased when we purchased our V45 from Princess and very well looked after. That said both Princess and Fairline (we have also owned a Fairline in the past) are good boats would suggest it comes down to personal preference of layout engines and dare say it price? Have a look around at both to see what you can get for your money. Good luck with your search
Regards
Timbad
 
Im selling at the moment and have looked at both, I like the phantom for looks but the 45 has 3 cabins so the cofin cabin won as its a great dumping ground for bags etc.

To throw in another id go for a phantom 46 for the same money, as there are quite a few on the market you might get more boat for your money, but go for a white hull.

All boats have TAMD 74/75 480hp engines and will return .75 mpg
 
White hull as the rear quarters fade badly, also you can see the ribs and stringers when the hull is polished, if you can get a good one then thats fine, also gel repairs cost more as they are difficult to match.

White hull models tend to sell easier.

Though I can eat my words as ive fell inlove with a windy 43 hardtop ad thats a blue hull!
 
simonjames said:
I am looking at selling my yacht and going into motorboating, as my wife & youngest son are absolutely sick of sailing. I am looking at purchasing a Fairline phanton 43 or a Princess 45 circa approx 2001 onwards. I will have a budget of approximately £230,000.00
As I have very limited experiance of motor boats I would appreciate any advice/ pitfalls on both these models.
I would be using the boat for coastal trips of approx 30 miles and cross channel trips possibly twice a yaer from Plymouth where we have a berth.
I would be very grateful for any info/fuel consumption figures etc
Thanks in anticipation Simon
Click to expand...


Hi. you won't get a clear naswer here becuase it's like asking whther a merc or bmw is better. Folks have their own choices but it's a great quality cnundrum becuase both are good. Personally I think Fairline is better - better styled and better built (epsecially when you look under the skin) but it's a fine call and others will disagree.

But as someone said above you really should check out Essex Boatyards (who major in Fairlines). I found them excellent and returned to them to buy my latest boat. They are known to do good trade in deals and make the transaction generally easy/keenly priced

Good luck
 
"fuel consumption figures etc"

A very valid question,how does 30 gallons an hour grab you,or about £165.00 per hours running at a sensible cruising speed.You can creep about to save fuel but there are other boats that do that job far better.
 
I agree with volvopaul. For me the extra length and the extra cabin of the Princess 45 make it the better choice. As for build quality, the Fairline may look a bit glitzier inside than the conservative Princess but the basic build quality is about the same. The hulls are designed by the same naval architect (Bernard Olesinski) so there won't be much difference in the seakeeping although, in theory, the extra length of the Princess might give it a small advantage in a head sea. There's one other factor that it is just a personal thing with me. I never liked the fact that Fairline differentiated their flybridge range between Phantoms and Squadrons as, to me, it made the Phantoms feel like poor relations but, as I say, thats just a personal thing
 
I notice both boats have quite different styled interior helm seats and how they are mounted. The Fairline has two seperate seats, but are raised up on carpeted blocks, which does not look good to me, almost an after thought. On later boats this has been changed to a similar design to Princess

Just my opinion, and I suspect others will like the design
 
We used to have a Fairline Phantom 42 (1997). When we looked around to change it at the end of 2007 we assumed we would be buying another Fairline but were a bit disappointed with the new Fairline's fit out. There was a lot of bare vinyl and it was a bit smaller inside than the old Phantom. The Princess on the other hand retained lots of timber, leather and other hi end finishes. It was also that bit bigger inside than the Phantom. The P42 is actually 45 feet long.

As an owner having prodded and poked around I can assure you the mechanical installation is second to none. Everywhere you look is wired or plumbed to perfection with labels to let you know what everything does. The boat has performed without fault since purchase. Odd niggles have been dealt with by Princess Swanwick in a timely and friendly manner. I know it won't apply in your instance because you aren't buying new but as a company the customer care at Princess is stunning. Dealers are owned by the parent company and I think that makes a huge difference. Quality can be delivered straight from the top and feedback is given extremely quickly and effectively.

I think Princess makes better use of their internal spaces as a brand. You get a sense that Fairline use residential designers and interior designers. There are wasted spaces in virtually all the models we have looked at, sometimes horrifically so. If I'm being totally honest I'm not sure the dealers do the brand any favours by offering heavy discounts on new boats even before customers asked. It actually put me off when I heard them at the Southampton boat show. Could Fairline be the new Sealine? Either way It makes the secondhand Market a bit weak if the new boats are being given away. I'm happy to have invested my money in a Princess.

You might need to find an extra couple of quid but it would be worth speaking to Roger and the rest of the team at Princess Swanwick to see if there is a stock P42 they own which could be bought for a sensible price if can go there as a cash buyer. Our late 2007 / 2008 boat with Volvo D6 435bhp engines is I hope worth circa £300k I would hope but I wonder if a 2006 boat with the earlier engines might be found for closer to your budget. You would be getting a modern styled boat. If you need a 45 foot 3 cabin boat then again, speak to them. I have always avoided the main dealers in the past thinking them expensive but if you can find stock boats they own I actually think you get a much better deal than buying from a broker who is led price wise by his over ambitious owner. You also get a bit of a warranty with the main dealer, zilch with a broker.

Ayway, I am obviously biased but my support is funded out of my own pocket and I had previously owned 2 Fairlines, the Phantom 42 and a Targa 37 but in hindsight I think they were Fairlines of a bygone era.

Good luck on your search.

Henry :)
 
Nice post henry, I do agree about build quality. I look after a p42 it was boat number 1 and has all the labels and info telling you whats what, simply a great design and now becoming affordable on the used circuit, id personally go for one with the TAMD75s in as it away from common rail tech that still needs to be proven in the marine environment.
 
It's interesting you prefer the older engine. I was / am actually rather please to have the newer D6 engine. The Phantom had a pair of 63P's and I find these new engines massively less smokey and quite fuel efficient. In terms of performance it's hard to compare as they are different boats but the P42 literally just pops up onto the plane. Both D6 and 63P use the same supercharger / turbo arrangement ie supercharger first the turbo once the engine is revving sufficiently so directly comparable.

I had a couple of relatively minor issues with the 63P's, oil hoses bursting and an engine which didn't want to stop sometimes.

The engine install in the Princess is well done. Fuel filters / water traps and raw water filters lovely and easy to get at right by the engine hatch.

Do you need diagnostic equipment to work on the newer engine? And if so is that something you have as a non franchised service engineer. I assume you are non franchised? Please don't take my question as derogatory, I'm just trying to get an angle on the preference for the older engine.

I admire your knowledge bank and have read many of your posts.

Henry :)
 
Henry I'm pretty sure the 63p is an standard turbo arrangement. No supercharger-then-turbo set up like the KADs and various other volvos

The Fairline v Princess debate could go on ad infinitum and unquestionably neither is shabby. I think many of us have our own views on it but refrain from an all-out debate because that would involve raining on lots of parades, given the large number of both brands represented on this forum. I therefore refrain from the debate to an extent, even though I have crawled around both and looked under the skin of both in much detail on the 3 occasions I've bought a new boat in the last 7 years or so
 
Hurricane said:
Yep Henry is absolutely correct
The backup at Princess (especially at Swanwick) is second to none.
Click to expand...

OK, to test that, if you bought a new princess from the UK dealer then cleared off to the Med in it, would they really send factory folks down on a plane to fix your boat, less than a week after you notified the problem?
 
The dealer's in the UK are part of the whole Princess company as I understand it. Not third party independent companies as per Fairline and most other Marques. The showroom arm of the factory if you will. I know in other parts of the world this is not the case.

Re: the engines you could well be right! I know the Targa 37 had KAD 42's which were definitely super / turbo chargers. They used to scream like buggery if you had the engine cover up. The 63P's must have been turbo charged then and that's why the P42 feels so quick onto the plane, no twiddling of thumbs. It's also less affected by the state of the hull getting up as well.

JFM you are quite right in saying both brands are at the upper end of what's out there and neither is "rubbish". As has been said we are talking the difference between BMW and Mercedes.

In terms of taking your boat to the Med you'd have to talk to Princess about that. There will be dealer's down there but there is a cut off between the dealer doing the work and the factory sending someone out. If you hadn't told them of your intentions or discussed warranty with them then I'm not sure it's fair to expect someone to fly out to you. It may be a s case of them sending parts foc and even contributing to labour if necessary? All I can say is on the South Coast where we are they are great, to the point where they even still get involved with jobs like cushion upgrades and so on.

From a business point of view I have found them extremely straight talking which I like. I sense they have the authority a broker lacks (re: the second hand purchase). Buying new we were quite flexible and that was reflected in our negotiations but ultimately we knew the rules. They aren't afraid of telling you bad as well as good which is refreshing and can save costly mistakes.

Either way I'm sure the OP will get something to suit.

Henry :)
 
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