My Princess 32 - seaworthy?

willdouglas

willdouglas

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Motorboat newbie here - I would be grateful to get forumite opinions on whether or not I can do sea work in my Princess 32 (1979) with a single 75hp Volvo Penta AQD21. Maximum comfortable speed around 5.2 Kts. I am based at Chiswick Bridge on the Thames and would like to go into the estuary and around the corner up to Suffolk. I know that with the engine I have my boat is primarily configured for river work but I would only envisage doing this in Spring/Summer in benign conditions. And how will an underpowered Princess 32 cope if things turn a little bit nasty?
 
I suspect the learned Gentlemen will advise you to enjoy tidal assistance on the estuary, and leave sea work for very very nice days.

If it turns nasty, you're in for a rough ride /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
If I was to attempt this I would cruise in company with another boat or adapt and outboard engine thats capeable of propelling the boat at the same speed.
I would look at the tides to help your speed over the ground and take a favourable weather forecast.
 
Volvopaul offers good advice. He may also be able to add to this, but 5 knots sounds very slow for 75hp in a fairly light 32 footer. I know you won't get much over 10 kts max' but that should allow cruising at 7 or 8 kts with rpm in reserve.
Subject to other views, I would look at propellor size and engine condition.
 
May still be resticted as per Caley cruisers if not the prop.
I had more than that out of the one I hired althoug I drove it like I'd stolen it /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Thanks all for your guidance. Yes, mine was a hire boat originally, up in Scotland. We bought her in July and had the engine and leg serviced. If we open up the throttle fully she'll hit about 5.8kts (with full tanks and three adults aboard). We would I'm sure get more speed from the engine with less fuel and if I go on a diet! However, the engine overheats after about 10 minutes of full throtte so we edge off a fraction to lower revs and she cools down. With our current load that means about 5.3 kts - sorry, I am sure this would all be more helpful if I had notated engine revs.

So a prop change might get her going a bit faster? It would be great to have a bit more if we needed it.
 
Thanks for the thought hlb. In fact the heat exchanger was cleaned out last week and we still have the overheating problem at full throttle. We have also recently fixed the cooling pump which was leaking so it can't be that. However, I have just had a word with my engineer. He thinks it might be that the Raw water seacock filter has got a blockage. I'll have a look at it next time I'm down there. I haven't cleaned it out since we got the boat and we have done about 30 hours on the Thames. There's bound to be something in there!
 
Many yotties would give thier right Arm to get 5.2kts. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
use the tides get another 1>2.5 kts /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
wher are you intending going in Suffolk put a post on the east coast forum if you want local info
 
I dare say even with propeller tweeks your boat wouldnt go much faster, maybe upto about 7 knots maximum. A friends one with twin perkins engines would make 8-9 knots.

Be carefull pushing this engine hard though, the cylinder heads are a notorious weak spot on these engines when they are pushed hard. Heads tend to crack when they blow their head gaskets, although a friend of mine was lucky with his and a new gasket fixed it.

His engines (twin installation) were also overheating despite having clean heat exchangers etc. I think the cause of his overheating is being overpropped, as he was getting about 3000rpm on an engine that should do more like 4000rpm, so they were being held back and therefore being pushed too hard.

If you work the tides right, and have good weather, then i see no problem in going out into the sea. The sail boats only go that fast after all.
 
Hi with that small prop it should not overheat as there is less load on it, does the water pour out the remote header tank when it overheats? if so its common problem that the head gasket has gone, ive done loads of md21 heads, they warp really easy.

The sea water pump wears and scores on the back face therefore the pump does not pump enough raw water hence the overheat, best look into it, I would have thought you would get up to displacement speed flat out say 8/9 knots, this should have been pointed out by your surveyor when you had your river trial. The oil cooler could be blocked too thats another common fault on that engine.
 
Hi Dickie, I do a bit of sea work in an old RLM 31 which is basically the same lower moulding as yours, the boat itself will take a fair beating, I have twin engines and wouldn't fancy it on just one without an outboard backup, even if it's only enough Hp to keep the pointy bit into the waves while you wait for a lifeboat tow.
Mine will do about 7 knots flat out on one engine (peugeot 1.9 60hp-ish) and about 10 knots on both with no tidal stream, if it's always been on rivers get the fuel tank flushed out first or you will get blockages as soon as the water turns lumpy.
Good luck with it, you should be ok with the right preparation.
 
Yes she has a relatively clean bottom - all done as part of the purchase process in Summer.

Thanks ALL for continued advice! So, lots of things to check/explore/spend money on - hooray! Credit crunch?

Out of interest what HP outboard are we talking about - 75hp or can I get away with less?
 
A 9.9hp high thrust would be fine; it's not speed you're looking for, it's a get-you-home-at-4knots outboard. Our 3 ton 27 foot cat with lots of windage comfortably punches the tide at 5knots SOG with a 9.9hp Mercury and 4knots against wind and tide.
 
Hi Dickie, just like to say you need to pick your day and make sure that your have a decent weather window for the whole trip.The last bit of the journey is the awkward bit.No real worries regards lack of power down from Teddington until you get to town centre when a really early transit will save you from all the wash and turbulence from the trip boats,the fast cats are no problem as they cause very little wash.
Once below Greenwich it all calms down a bit and there is just the long boring haul down to Gravesend.
It is now make your mind up time,if you see white tops anywhere around there and you have any doubts it is only going to get worse the further down you go,so turn round now.
Beating down Sea Reach for queasy 3-4 plus hours is not nice and there is nowhere to hide other than a rather uninviting creek on the north side or a very exposed run round to Queenborough to the south.
Most of the time it is a cracking trip and well worth the time and trouble,just stick with what you and your crew are comfortable with.
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This is the sort of weather you really need for a nice trip /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.Good Luck.
Ps.This weather cam is dead useful Sheppey and any electronic chartplotter wether laptop or dedicated will aid confidence.
 
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