Looking for 2012/13 Princess 50 Flybridge

[Paul_f7]

Hi All,

I am in the market for a Princess 50 Flybridge MKIII built at the end of the production run, so either a 2012 or 2013 model. I am looking for a boat with low hours, non-charter, fully loaded (AC, updated Navs, Cherry Wood preferred, etc) and properly looked after (loved) by the previous owners. I am in a position to wait for the right boat as I will continue to use my Fairline Phantom until after the sale completes. If anyone knows of such a boat, or a friend who is considering a sale please have them private message me as I am ready to do a deal and can be reasonable on timescale. Many thanks.

 

[MapisM]

I am in the market for a Princess 50 Flybridge MKIII

IIRC, that's the one with the 3 vertical vindows in the mid cabin, innit? I'm asking because if yes, the next question is if you ever tried her at sea.
Last summer, during a crossing in a glass flat sea, one of these boats cruising along the same route as ourselves passed us at less than 100m, going very slightly faster than ourselves (at a guess, one or two knots faster than our 20), so we could see her very well.
And boys, did she run bow high!
I mean, the angle of attack would have been unusually high even she were accelerating from D to P speed, let alone while cruising at 20+ kts!
Of course, I have no clue about whether she was tuned correctly (overload astern, unproper trim tabs setting, or whatever).
Just saying.

 

[Whitelighter]

I think HenryF has a P50 MK3

 

[henryf]

I think HenryF has a P50 MK3

Ours is a slightly earlier one, the last of the stainless steel triple window boats. And not for sale

I'm not aware of the boats having a particular problem with their attitude in the water. I will often run with some trim tab depending on weather conditions, ie not a following sea, but only to fine tune and compensate for guests on board. They are quite a sporty boat in that they lean into the turn and you will know when people are moving around. I guess some boats feel dead and don't react as much to movement of people, I like the sportier feel.

Machinery, stores - if someone has heavy stuff in the rear lazerette (assuming no crew cabin) even a gyro stabiliser fitted in the back?

We have a passerelle fitted on the back and run with a tender on the bathing platform so aren't especially light.

Henry

 

[jrudge]

I am honestly surprised that the movement of people about a 50 foot boat is noticeable at all.

The only boat I had that I did notice was a cranchi endurance 33 which was an unstable puffed up speed boat ( I did do uk the to La Rochelle and back twice in it and god did it go )

 

[MapisM]

you will know when people are moving around

Well, coming to think of it and FWIW, in the boat I previously mentioned there was just the helmsman upstair, and several folks sitting in the cockpit.
So, maybe it was a combination of that and possibly of trim tabs fully raised, I don't know.
Pretty sure the attitude was radically different (and imho much worse) from the one of our boat, which at very similar speed and in exactly the same sea conditions was running much flatter.
Also the amount of water that she threw around seemed larger, in spite of the smaller size and lighter weight.

Anyway, I'm as surprised as jrudge to hear of a 50' f/b so sensitive to crew movements.
In mine, which isn't dramatically larger, in one occasion I had 5 guests onboard who were all along the walkarounds to watch dolphins, and moved from one side to the other to follow them, but the boat didn't budge.

 

[henryf]

Don't get me wrong, we aren't talking. "oh my god what's happening here," we're talking subtle adjustments on what is a surprisingly sporty 50 footer when underway up on the plane. Tweaking the trim tabs to fine tune attitude so it matches my exacting standards.

When we did our stability tests we had 14 people standing on the edge of the boat lining the gunwale and we passed with flying colours.

Henry

 

[MapisM]

Aha, I see.
Out of idle curiosity, how many ponies does she have, and what sort of top speed are they good for?
Sice you call her sporty, she must be a pretty reactive boat considering what you are used to with cars, I reckon...

 

[henryf]

Aha, I see.
Out of idle curiosity, how many ponies does she have, and what sort of top speed are they good for?
Sice you call her sporty, she must be a pretty reactive boat considering what you are used to with cars, I reckon...

The boat has a pair of 715hp CAT C12 engines and with a clean hull shows a top speed of around 31, possibly 32 knots.

We tend to cruise in the 22-25 knot range when on the plane during the season or else go über frugal on tick over and enjoy 6-7 knots plus tide if conditions support it, particularly if we are heading up or down the Solent on a nice calm sunny day. The tides are so easy to calculate it's rude not to

Henry