Look at a Prestige 36 Tomorrow

A friend of mine had terrible trouble with the hull on his prestige 34. Kept splitting around the bow thruster area, to the extent that you could see the balsa core the first time. It took Osmotech several goes to get it right after which it was swiftly sold.....

Not sure if this is a common fault but worth checking out as it wasn't cheap to rectify.
 
kashurst said:
Engine bay access and check if the hull has a balsa wood core.
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Neither of those relate to a specific boat - it will be the same for all Prestige 36s.
You also don't say where the core shouldn't be - nothing wrong with coring on deck and superstructures.

Would be nice is pascoe updated his stuff once in a while - most of his 'findings' relate to early/mid 90s boats. Things have moved on.

The Prestige will almost certainly be cored on the deck and superstructure - though it might be foam.
 
Whitelighter said:
Neither of those relate to a specific boat - it will be the same for all Prestige 36s.
You also don't say where the core shouldn't be - nothing wrong with coring on deck and superstructures.

Would be nice is pascoe updated his stuff once in a while - most of his 'findings' relate to early/mid 90s boats. Things have moved on.

The Prestige will almost certainly be cored on the deck and superstructure - though it might be foam.
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My friends boat had a cored hull (though in fairness I can't recall what the material was) which had to be dried and repaired as part of the main remediation when it split aft of the bow thruster tunnel. Not sure whether this was a one-off or a symptom of a wider design flaw?
 
To be fair, I have not seen many bad things said about the Prestige 36. Engine bay access is apparently a bit tight though because of a double floor for soundproofing.
 
"Neither of those relate to a specific boat - it will be the same for all Prestige 36s.
You also don't say where the core shouldn't be - nothing wrong with coring on deck and superstructures."

completely agree - above the water line unlikely to get significant osmosis or damage that will penetrate to the wood. Even if you did you would be able to see it and sort it easily. I have seen a few sailing yachts being repaired where seawater has got into the balsa core in the submerged part of the hull and it takes a lot of work to fix it. Hull cracks, more water gets in, more cracks etc. This has made me wary of underwater cores. The Jeanneau 36 was on my potential new boat list and that feature put me off. The engine access I could live with.
 
Engine access terrible both on the KAD and D4 version.
Impossible to change anode on D4 port engine intercooler due to rear bulkhead, fuel pre filters sited in a stupid place whereby you could not safely change a filter at sea.
Over the years I've changed and repaired many gearboxes HS63 due to the filters and oil not being changed as again access not goodeadung to gearbox rebuilds.
Leaking exhaust elbows trashing the EDC wiring , early stern glands leak, seacocks and skin fittings sub standard quality, leaking hot water tank, corroding exhaust hull fittings.
Something to go at there.
 
Thank you. A few things to look at there... especially as it is the D4. I thought it might be better than the KAD as it is smaller but obviously has its own unique issues..
 
volvopaul said:
Engine access terrible both on the KAD and D4 version.
Impossible to change anode on D4 port engine intercooler due to rear bulkhead, fuel pre filters sited in a stupid place whereby you could not safely change a filter at sea.
Over the years I've changed and repaired many gearboxes HS63 due to the filters and oil not being changed as again access not goodeadung to gearbox rebuilds.
Leaking exhaust elbows trashing the EDC wiring , early stern glands leak, seacocks and skin fittings sub standard quality, leaking hot water tank, corroding exhaust hull fittings.
Something to go at there.
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That's the P36 off the list, so :D

If you were to have a (max) 40ft fly-bridge, what would it be and why? (Sorry to de-rail, but may help OP if he's starting his search again)
 
alt said:
That's the P36 off the list, so :D

If you were to have a (max) 40ft fly-bridge, what would it be and why? (Sorry to de-rail, but may help OP if he's starting his search again)
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That's no reason not to buy one, ive many clients over the years that have them and are very happy with what they have got , both the 32 and 36 are good value for money boats , I'm just giving you the heads up on my daily job as to what you may come across.
 
volvopaul said:
That's no reason not to buy one, ive many clients over the years that have them and are very happy with what they have got , both the 32 and 36 are good value for money boats , I'm just giving you the heads up on my daily job as to what you may come across.
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And it's much appreciated, as I do all my own work.... so it'll be my knuckles getting shredded!
 
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shan said:
P36 not off the list yet mainly because what I really want is out of the price range!
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Never let price range get in the way of your dream :D When I was 25, I had sold my S23 and aspired to purchase something bigger, maybe a Sealine S28. Ended up buying a Cranchi Smeraldo 37!! (Don't ask me how I managed that... god bless the recession, or something along those lines)

Still have her 6 years later and couldn't be happier, but wouldn't mind a flybridge now that i'm getting old!!
 
the great advantage of this forum is the collective knowledge base. Without it I don't think I could run a motorboat. MoBos are complex, expensive machines at whatever level you are at. Unfortunately the disadvantage of this forum is you can get paranoid about everything on every boat.

After 18 years and 6 boats of various makes and models, I take the view now that the mainstream manufacturers of boats from all over the world, engines, electronics etc know what they are doing. The ones that have survived 2008 etc have done so because they are basically very good. They will never be as good as the car manufacturers simply because they just don't make enough of any one model to get all the bugs out of it. And the field base feedback via dealers is very weak. We have to accept that and try to find the best solution to our individual boating needs.

Every boat/ engine has its weaknesses, the trick is finding a combination that gives you the most pleasure with the least risk/cost benefit combination. By filtering the forum inputs/knowledge to suite my own needs/desires, I picked a boat that wasn't even thought about when I did the original potential list. (Fairline/Princess/Sealine/Jeanneau/Beneteau).

A good example of most modern boats will no doubt work well so good luck with your search
 
I liked the look of the Prestige 36.
Gloss wood and cream leather but found more space on an F36 along with EDC and those nice electronic throttles than the KAD 44 comes with. That was one of the main attractions of the P36 to me that along with proper stairs to the Flybridge instead is a ladder, these were the only two 36' boats I could find with this feature, I stand to be corrected?
We now have an F36
 
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