New build Princess F55 flybridge

[Hurricane]

Horses for course - I'm not bothered about route ETA but that's my choice (and of course most of my big routes are straight line anyway )

What are you saying is a showstopper? I didn't get your point.

I see Mark's point but our cruising is quite different from his.
I'm really only interested in ETA for the longer passages and, I think the distance/time to an "ad hoc" waypoint is always displayed/available.
One of the reasons that we "pootle" at 10 knots is that it is dead easy to do some simple maths on the progress.

On separate point, during the longer passages, I often fiddle with the PC nav system.
The PC isn't a crucial part of the nav kit - more of just an addition to the main system.
But it allows "off line" fiddling.
For example - collision avoidance well in advance - using AIS and Radar to plot a CPA without adjusting the main nav system.
I know you can do all that with the main nav system but I also do other "off line" planning whilst the boat is still under way.
An interesting recent exercise was during a crossing back to SCM from Ibiza.
A yachtie friend had set off earlier so I so I set his boat as a "target" to get the time and position when/where we would catch him up.
This was on a 100 mile crossing so the CPA is in the middle of nowhere.
But I found it interesting to see how changing my speed affected the CPA
Just an example of the kind of fiddling that I do.

On a serious note though that same concept can be used to outrun weather.
Wind/sea conditions are always affected by rain.
So watching the rain and setting a target on an isolated rain cloud, you can avoid the bad weather around the rain.
This may sound extreme so here is an example

The radar view of bad weather


BTW - see - the boat is on a "Go To Cursor" - with a 7 hr ETA

And this is the actual situation - pic taken from another boat



We, quite literally, drove around that storm.

I know this is all "off topic" but maybe it will help keep this thread active until Henry returns.

 

[rafiki_]

I too don’t understand and why the Mods have felt the need to question either Henry’s or PMYS‘s ethics. Regulars on here know that Henry has a strong liking for Princess boats, and PMYS given his long experience with both. He had a serious look at other brands, visiting several boat shows at home and abroad to do so. I don’t believe this was a deep and meaningful approach to sealing a Princess coat as part of his deal! In balance, there are several of us on here who promote their own preferred brands. I might have mentioned Azimut once or twice? I don’t think my activities on this forum were material in blagging a couple of Azimut caps off Azi UK. Whoops, now that is no longer a secret, I might expect a visitation from the Mod police? There is also a culprit on here who steers every thread to proclaiming the world beating attributes of Itama. I don’t know why as I don’t read his threads.
So mods, please give Henry your utmost apologies, and allow us to enjoy his experiences with his lovely new boat!

 

[MapisM]

I have just been approached by forum administrators who ever they may be with suggestions that my posts on here may be inappropriate.
There was a suggestion that I'm being paid to post either directly or by way of free products.
A post I made relating to the cleaning pack you get with a new Princess F55 seemed to trigger the intervention.

I vaguely remember a post of yours with some pics of cleaning products, but I only skimmed through it 'cause, well, it wasn't exactly one of the most attractive readings (for me, anyway).
So, what you are now saying made me curious to check it out, but can't find it anymore. I assume it was pulled.

Which means - to recap - that one of these "whoever" chaps had nothing better to do than pulling one of the dullest and irrelevant posts of the whole thread, and suggest you that your posts are "inappropriate", which implies unwelcome.
This after you started a thread that is attracting (as of now) 18 thousand views.
If this isn't beyond a joke, I don't know what else is - and that's all I have to say as a forumite.
But if I were the asylum editor, pretty sure I would have something more to say to this Mr./Ms. whoever, because if there's one thing I wouldn't want him/her to do is take useless actions whose only possible consequence is jeopardizing the traffic - which at the end of the day is what any forum business is all about.

 

[Portofino]

In my two boat albeit used experience there was considerable freebies ( both items + services ) thrown in by Sunseeker in Poole and the Itama broker in Naples .Further freebies by Sunseeker .Fr for both .I don’t think mentioning stuff , the details falls into promotion.The elephant in the room is actual manufacturer , but you can’t help not mentioning them .

Its also natural to mention theses favours , gifts , freebies or what ever as you go in a new boat to you thread .

As far as promo of products folks on here are always indirectly doing this answering Q s like “what’s the best [ insert product description] to this ? = loadsa guys chime in a 90 % hit on one product or a scrap develops with a 50-50 between two products.
Its not promotion of the winner .

Some effervescent bubbling over with brand enthusiasm ( meant in a kind innocent way ) is acceptable in my book ……It’s entirely natural and tbh nice to read inho . I don’t see this aspect as promotion either .

I write this not party to the mods + H discussions.

 

[Hurricane]

I too don’t understand and why the Mods have felt the need to question either Henry’s or PMYS‘s ethics. Regulars on here know that Henry has a strong liking for Princess boats, and PMYS given his long experience with both. He had a serious look at other brands, visiting several boat shows at home and abroad to do so. I don’t believe this was a deep and meaningful approach to sealing a Princess coat as part of his deal! In balance, there are several of us on here who promote their own preferred brands. I might have mentioned Azimut once or twice? I don’t think my activities on this forum were material in blagging a couple of Azimut caps off Azi UK. Whoops, now that is no longer a secret, I might expect a visitation from the Mod police? There is also a culprit on here who steers every thread to proclaiming the world beating attributes of Itama. I don’t know why as I don’t read his threads.
So mods, please give Henry your utmost apologies, and allow us to enjoy his experiences with his lovely new boat!

Oh dear
I will have to come clean as well.
Princess gave us jackets as well.
And, Yes - I had to have the Extra Large one for me!!
Still have the jackets - in fact, I was wearing mine last night in a cold Devon

 

[MapisM]

I’ve always said it’s a bit of a PC/Mac debate where everyone is right and familiarity plays a big part in the preference rather than the over stated minor differences.for
But if I was starting from scratch the lack of route handling would definitely get me to choose another brand. It’s a big and very surprising omission IMO.
You’ve said before that your showstopper is the ability to control the pilot on iPad on Garmin where raymarine block that. forWhich is annoying I admit.

I fully agree that familiarity is an important trigger in the "route vs. goto" approach, as opposed to real world differences.
But also the cruising grounds are a big factor.
I spent a whole decade cruising the Croatian archipelago, and IIRC I had two dozens of routes stored in my plotter, the simplest of which with maybe 8 or 10 waypoints, all the way up to 30+ for the more complex ones.
And I'm talking of daily transfers of a few hours (at one digit speed), not of going RTW!
That's what happens when cruising an area with more than a thousand islands.

Then again, calling ANY of the electronic instrumentation features a showstopper is a bit rich to say the least...
One of my boating mates has a boat with no autopilot at all, but I'm always happy to accept an invitation to go out together.
Enjoying good company without having to pay for fuel more than makes up for having to hold the wheel, if and when asked!
Not to mention that being this boat small (28'), she allows us to anchor in places where we can't with ours.
Which in terms of pleasure that can be squeezed out of boating, beats playing with onboard gizmos any day of the week!

 

[henryf]

We had an adult chat with the Mod and they apologised for taking one of my posts in isolation rather than reading the whole thread. The eco cleaning stuff post has been reinstated and we are all friends again.

We gave the boat cleaner stuff a quick whirl yesterday after Haslar pressure washed the pontoon onto our new boat. Seems to froth up and remove muck !

 

[jfm]

I’ve always said it’s a bit of a PC/Mac debate where everyone is right and familiarity plays a big part in the preference rather than the over stated minor differences.

But if I was starting from scratch the lack of route handling would definitely get me to choose another brand. It’s a big and very surprising omission IMO.

You’ve said before that your showstopper is the ability to control the pilot on iPad on Garmin where raymarine block that. Which is annoying I admit.

I don’t understand what you mean by “lack of route handling”, if you mean Garmin. Their route functionality is awesome, including auto route generation if you want that.
I agree your familiarity point but if you analyse objectively Garmin is significantly ahead - the company has tons more resources of course.

 

[henryf]

saw your boat i think the other day in southampton looks lovely, i've just spent a week down boat shopping for an axopar and i think probably a manhattan 55 not decided yet though still looking am coming back down in april to take a closer look just want to check out galeon just for completeness they do a 560 fly.

I was in your shoes at Southampton boat show 2021. I felt Galeon was trying a bit too hard. I really can’t see us unfolding everything when we’re at anchor and in the marina you won’t have space to. Spend a lot of time looking at stuff beyond the shiny surfaces. Go into engineering spaces, make sure every wire and bit of pipe is labelled up so you know what it does, see how stuff is fitted and so on.

The Manhattan 55 was a coming of age boat for Sunseeker in my humble opinion. They finally matched the interior volume of Princess and it has proved very popular with Sunseeker customers.

I visited the factory many years ago and I think they build a good boat, all the wiring was labelled up and so on. I like the crew cabin entry on the Manhattan, better than the Princess.

What tipped our decision in the end was the practical usability. Ropes always seem to rub on gel coat with the M55, walking down the side decks to the bow didn’t feel as safe, you get pushed out by a styling bulge and there are no hand rails. I felt the overall styling was a bit too loud for us. The Princess felt a bit more classically good looking rather than flashy but that’s personal not objective.

Ultimately I want to be able to use the boat safely and ensure both crew and charter guests are safe, the side decks on the M55 worried me and everyone wants to go on the forward seating area.

Finally I really dislike having people in front of me when helming from the flybridge. I preferred the flybridge layout on the F55.

Sunseeker tried really hard to sell to us and it was definitely on the cards but I’m pleased we went the way we did. Purely our thoughts though, you will know what works for you.

It’s also worth saying that Fairline have a new 55 footer planned for the end of this year. The current boat was too small inside but if they do the same as Sunseeker did with the M55 it might be worth a look.

Finally we saw the new Ferretti 55 at Düsseldorf. A big improvement on the old model. Saloon is a bit small, bathrooms are small and the view from the lower helm position is restricted but an interesting option. Personally I’d have still gone with the F55 but if you get a chance take a look. It’s a bit more angular inside than the Princess but I believe they are well built according to the international commentators on here.

 

[MapisM]

Their route functionality is awesome, including auto route generation if you want that.

Just curios, what sort of parameters does their auto route function take into account?
I mean, can you for instance chose between shorter vs. faster route, and define a minimum distance from the coastline, a minimum depth, air draught?
All utterly irrelevant for crossing say from SoF to Corsica, of course.
But I would have loved a plotter capable to take into account all that during my Croatian years!

 

[Elessar]

I don’t understand what you mean by “lack of route handling”, if you mean Garmin. Their route functionality is awesome, including auto route generation if you want that.
I agree your familiarity point but if you analyse objectively Garmin is significantly ahead - the company has tons more resources of course.

I mean no reset XTE which I use all the time and no route TTG which is use all the time. Both really surprising omissions IMO

Very different cruising grounds I guess. I often have lots of waypoints in a route. And busy waters making reset XTE very common.

Raymarine has auto route generation which is fine for a quick “how far is that” but I wouldn’t use it to navigate.

 

[benjenbav]

We had an adult chat with the Mod and they apologised for taking one of my posts in isolation rather than reading the whole thread. The eco cleaning stuff post has been reinstated and we are all friends again.

We gave the boat cleaner stuff a quick whirl yesterday after Haslar pressure washed the pontoon onto our new boat. Seems to froth up and remove muck !

Excellent. Mind, I might rather have a free gift of someone to apply the cleaning stuff.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Just curios, what sort of parameters does their auto route function take into account?
I mean, can you for instance chose between shorter vs. faster route, and define a minimum distance from the coastline, a minimum depth, air draught?
All utterly irrelevant for crossing say from SoF to Corsica, of course.
But I would have loved a plotter capable to take into account all that during my Croatian years!

From the manual for my Garmin MFD:

Preferred Depth: Sets the minimum water depth, based on chart depth data, that your boat can safely travel over.
NOTE: The minimum water depth for the premium charts (made before 2016) is 3 feet. If you enter a value of less than 3 feet, the charts only use depths of 3 feet for Auto Guidance path calculations.

Vertical Clearance: Sets the minimum height of a bridge or obstacle, based on chart data, that your boat can safely travel under.

Shoreline Distance: Sets how close to the shore you want the Auto Guidance path to be placed. The Auto Guidance path may move if you change this setting while navigating. The available values for this setting are relative, not absolute. To ensure that the Auto Guidance line is placed the appropriate distance from shore, you can assess the placement of the Auto Guidance path using one or more familiar destinations that require navigation through a narrow waterway

 

[mil1194]

From the manual for my Garmin MFD:

Preferred Depth: Sets the minimum water depth, based on chart depth data, that your boat can safely travel over.
NOTE: The minimum water depth for the premium charts (made before 2016) is 3 feet. If you enter a value of less than 3 feet, the charts only use depths of 3 feet for Auto Guidance path calculations.

Vertical Clearance: Sets the minimum height of a bridge or obstacle, based on chart data, that your boat can safely travel under.

Shoreline Distance: Sets how close to the shore you want the Auto Guidance path to be placed. The Auto Guidance path may move if you change this setting while navigating. The available values for this setting are relative, not absolute. To ensure that the Auto Guidance line is placed the appropriate distance from shore, you can assess the placement of the Auto Guidance path using one or more familiar destinations that require navigation through a narrow waterway

Without checking that sounds similar to the Navionics criteria.

 

[jfm]

I mean no reset XTE which I use all the time and no route TTG which is use all the time. Both really surprising omissions IMO

Very different cruising grounds I guess. I often have lots of waypoints in a route. And busy waters making reset XTE very common.

Raymarine has auto route generation which is fine for a quick “how far is that” but I wouldn’t use it to navigate.

That’s just not correct Elessar. Garmin has reset xte and route ETA+ TTG + distance to run.

 

[PaulRainbow]

That’s just not correct Elessar. Garmin has reset xte and route ETA+ TTG + distance to run.

And a lot more.

 

[jrudge]

I am glad the mods have come round. Daft.

about 100 posts ago you motioned something that no one has picked up on

£35000
£35000
£35000
audio upgrade!!!!!!!!!!I know you didn’t get it but what on earth can a £35k upgrade include !!!

 

[henryf]

I am glad the mods have come round. Daft.

about 100 posts ago you motioned something that no one has picked up on

£35000
£35000
£35000
audio upgrade!!!!!!!!!!I know you didn’t get it but what on earth can a £35k upgrade include !!!

I spent part of a day earlier in the week pairing up phones to the boat’s audio. Our standard package consists of several head units dotted around the boat. When TVs are fitted in the same room the TV links to that Fusion head unit.

The upgraded system is expensive because there are a lot of head units to replace as well as associated speakers etc.

what the Princess approach does allow you to do is listen to the master cabin TV through speakers whilst someone else is watching the saloon TV through the audio system whilst someone else is on the flybridge streaming off their phone and someone else is doing it on the Bow seating.

The standard package provides masses more opportunity than our P50 Mk3 which was a radio in the saloon which also outputted to the flybridge and head units in the 2 mainbedrooms.

You could do a lot of damage for a fraction of that upgrade by fitting some intelligent BOSE or B&O smart speakers.

I need to get my head around exactly what we have on the boat audio wise but there’s quite a bit fitted as standard.

 

[Greg2]

I am glad the mods have come round. Daft.

about 100 posts ago you motioned something that no one has picked up on

£35000
£35000
£35000
audio upgrade!!!!!!!!!!I know you didn’t get it but what on earth can a £35k upgrade include !!!

I picked up on it but didn’t comment - perhaps because my flabber was gasted!

But then I am firmly in the used market and when upgrading to a Fusion system I am thinking that several hundred squid is a bit tasty!
.

 

[henryf]

I picked up on it but didn’t comment - perhaps because my flabber was gasted!

But then I am firmly in the used market and when upgrading to a Fusion system I am thinking that several hundred squid is a bit tasty!
.

We bought the boat brand new and I also thought it was a massive amount

I will post up exactly what the standard audio pack gives you but they are all Fusion head units and you get a lot of them.

Having said all along that I didn’t want to deviate from the Princess build options for fear of complicating warranties and so on the audio set up is probably one area I’d say this wouldn’t apply. If I wanted to improve things I would fit my own stuff where appropriate. Audio is such a personal thing. My initial thoughts are that you would probably fit a high end installation in the Saloon, leave the bedrooms and then use a high end portable smart speaker system for the outside spaces.

On a recent trip to the Bicester outlet centre I found myself in the Bang & Olufsen shop and they had some stuff which would be perfect for an F55 flybridge……

Someone did once tell me its easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. I know which side my bread is buttered so wouldn’t be so stupid particularly in Bicester where ammunition for revenge is everywhere and very much geared to a lady’s desires….