New build Princess F55 flybridge

[henryf]

can't make it down in may so i'm coming for the think southampton show at ocean village end of april then maybe again in sept for the main show

Ah, I presume you mean the South coast and Green Tech boat show. I haven't been to either of those in the past but I suspect it is probably aimed at smaller craft than the 55 foot Flybridge boats. There is an excellent show in Swanwick which has been running for a few years now which is aimed at the larger boats. It's primarily Princess, Sunseeker and Fairline with some additional appearances, I know Pearl have been there in the past and possibly Galleon as well. It's really easy to get on and off boats as it's pretty much exclusively a boat owners show.

There's a link to it here:

Home - British Motor Yacht Show 2023

If you were seriously in the market for a boat the ability to step off one boat straight on to another can not be understated. Having said that at the moment because there aren't loads of dealer stock boats floating around the exact models on display will depend on availability. Not everyone wants to have people clambering over their brand new boat. Either way if you want a chat and we're around I'd be happy to share my thoughts with you informally. It probably wouldn't take long to empty what's in my head

Henry

 

[MapisM]

you can blame my parents and family growing up who rammed down my throat "if its not italian its not good" that has made me quite aggressively anti italian to the point i haven't even been back to see my family since my cousins wedding in 2002

Well, I do blame them, 'cause their is an approach that doesn't make Italy and Italians any favour.

Quite different from what the likes of Sanlorenzo, Azimut, Ferretti, ecc. always did, and are still doing: find me one advertisement where they claim that their boats are better because they are made in Italy, if you can.
Truth is, they do build some of the best boats mone can buy, and sell most of them abroad, period - the fact that they are built in Italy is incidental.
And if anything, that's astonishing, when you consider that Nordhavn, Fleming, and many others sell at stellar prices boats that (AOTBE) cost them less to build, compared to Italian boatbuilders.

Anyway, your money, your boating choices, of course!
I just hope that at least you didn't turn into "anti italian" (whatever that means ) with food, and you are at least missing what I can guess you had at that wedding in 2002...

 

[henryf]

@MapisM I can only think that @jfm is going through some sort of mid life crisis which has seen him wander over to Italy for a new boat.....

To be fair I suspect the willingness to adapt and modify standard offerings played a significant part in the thought process as well. For me that simply isn't an issue.

 

[MapisM]

LOL, isn't normally a Porsche that is meant to cure mid-life crisis?
According to Scarlett Johansson of Lost in Translation fame, at least.

I don't know if and to which extent the willingness to customize the boat played a role in jfm decision.
It's pointless to make assumptions on his behalf, anyway - he can tell us about that, if he wants/likes.

But I have a question for you (and also for hinch, who said he never liked the style of IT boats).
Let's assume you are walking towards the berth of your brand new 30m toy, together with your best friends which you invited for the maiden voyage.
Which boat would you be more proud to tell them to feast their eyes on upon arrival, between a Y95, a SL96A and a Riva Argo?

Far from suggesting that jfm judged these books by their cover, mind.
As we all know, his decision process ain't exactly skin deep, to use an euphemism...
The (rather rethorical, admittedly!) question is just mine, and not based on anything I heard from him.

 

[hinch]

In that example above none of them as in that size (if i could afford that size ) I'd be looking at a princess x95

anyway Henry i'll reach out to you later on see if I can get down for a chat with you when you're back local will leave the thread back to you too now as its your boat I just wanted to say i'd seen yours and it looked lovely.

 

[TonyR123]

While I have gone princess myself - happy with "price/quality/aftercare" level - I have to say the San Lorenzo is a level up again in terms of luxury. Just look at the doors if nothing else. 95 foot I would def be in the San Lorenzo/Riva camp IF I could justify the additional cost they demand. If I couldnt justify the price then either smaller boat or different brand!

As others have said boats are very personal - styling and what you want from the boat.

 

[henryf]

@MapisM I can't answer your question because I wouldn't be walking up to a boat of that size.

In my own little world I'd be quietly proud as they walked up to the Princess F55.

Money no object I'd be very tempted by the Princess X80 and I'd be looking forward to showing them the cabin they'd be enjoying during their stay and seeing their jaw drop.

I think the San Lorenzo SX range is a very good looking boat but probably more open air cockpit space than I personally want. Riva is just not me I'm afraid.

 

[Hurricane]

This probably isn't the right place to post this but it is Princess related.

The new MBY popped through the letterbox yesterday.
The lead article is on the new Princess F65.
As this boat is in the range that we have been using for the last 15 years, I thought I would comment on the spec/design.

Bear in mind that these are my personal views and not the views of the intended market.
That said, we have used our boat as an "owners" boat and the following points would put me off buying a new F65.

Here are a few things that I like about our old P67 that I don't like or find on the new F65.

1. The one us "boaters" all know - the internal stairs- just not available on any manufacturers/designs these days.
I don't blame Princess - it is obvious that people buying these days don't realise the benefits of the internal stairs when ACTUALLY cruising.

2. I'm not a fan of the aft galley. Who, these days, wants to walk through the kitchen to get to the living room.
When I invite guests on board for dinner etc, they congregate either in the cockpit or in the saloon.
Two separate entertaining areas.
I just don't see the logic of splitting them up with the galley.

3. The tender
I haven't looked closely but it seems that putting a tender on the flybridge is also a thing of the past.
The issue I have is that I like big tenders and my existing Novurania probably wouldn't fit on the F65's bathing platform without obstructing the cockpit entrance, crews quarters or passerelle.
I do put the tender on the bathing platform overnight at anchor but it has to be stowed away on the flybridge if we go into a marina.
So, if we had a new F65, it would mean a smaller tender.

4. Cabins
I guess this is market driven as well.
Our P67 sacrifices that forth cabin for 3 really big cabins and loads of storage space for stuff like bedding etc in the main companionway.
It seems that when people are shopping, they look at boats like houses (number of bedrooms).
Maybe they don't think of how they would use the boat.
IMHO, at 65 feet, we still aren't in the league that requires all those cabins and I prefer the way that the P67 uses the space.

But, as I say, the market must dictate these features or there wouldn't be the demand.

There are a few concepts I like that are being "designed in" these days.
The bathing platform is a nice area so the idea of beach clubs appeals to me.
Also the way that boats have developed on the foredeck works for me - the foredeck has always been a bit of a wasted space so making it a proper seating area seems to me to be a good idea.

Anyway, I'm just a boreing old ?art with no idea of design.
Actually, I consider that I'm an engineer not a designer.

BTW - When reading MBY, initially, I completely missed it until SWMBO pointed it out.
It seems that I have beaten you all to that bottle of rum with my photo of JW tied back to the rocks in Ibiza.

 

[henryf]

Well done on the photo.

I'm not an internal stairs fan at my size of boat.

I will let you know how the galley up aft goes. We've fought it for a long time but finally relented. Lets see whether I wish I'd made the leap years ago or not.....

 

[TonyR123]

galley aft all day long for me.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

The aft galley that Ferretti sort of revolutionized which made everyone copy it some five years later and today see everyone follow it.
Though to be fair Sunseeker made an astern galley of sort in the 1999 launched Manhattan 64 although it was in a sort of corner looking forward, a design I had seen some five years before on a Maiora 20.
The Ferretti 630 galley was exceptional for a lot of reason but its most important one was that it could become fully enclosed or open.
Not even Ferretti did it so well in other models, possibly cause of cost issues.
We could go on how every detail of any Princess, and or other boat from around the World is for 90% Italian invented.

90 is a big number when you think about it and makes you understand why 60/70% of yachts over 24 meters are made in Italy.

Imagine how dull boat and yacht making would be without Italians, but possibly we could go on the same with cars, and other things as well....

For the Med but also the Floridas and Bahamas and other Sunny climates, where most living is made on the aft deck it is a superb idea.
That sort of idea which in hindsight one would say why it took us over forty years to get there....
For other countries I think it would be rather neutral, if a galley is central and or astern.
An example of this is the new Azimut 68 which is offered with both options and they are declaring they are selling them equal.
Which is an interesting line of thought of what customers want.

 

[Hurricane]

I'm not an internal stairs fan at my size of boat.

I will let you know how the galley up aft goes. We've fought it for a long time but finally relented. Lets see whether I wish I'd made the leap years ago or not.....

Internal stairs do several things for the boat.
At sea, they form a very safe way to get between the helm stations or if you want a quick sandwich or something from the galley.
Other times, the internal stairs make it easy to serve food on the flybridge dining area.

That comment leads on to the position of the galley.
Don't get me wrong - we don't like the galley located on the lower deck either.
Thats why our previous boat was a Sealing T51 (galley up and midships).
The P67 galley is, essentially the same but bigger.
We have three dining areas - cockpit, flybridge and dinette - all served centrally from our midships galley.
To me, it just makes sense,

But with the new entertaining areas of the foredeck and potentially a beach club on the bathing platform, I suppose an aft galley becomes more central.

Anyway, just my three penny worth.

 

[jfm]

@MapisM I can only think that @jfm is going through some sort of mid life crisis which has seen him wander over to Italy for a new boat.....

To be fair I suspect the willingness to adapt and modify standard offerings played a significant part in the thought process as well. For me that simply isn't an issue.

I'm having a long drawn out MLC, hoping it might span 50 years or so

With SL there is no "modification". Sure they have a default design that they will build for a customer who doesn't want to make their own choice, but their offering is very clearly a bespoke build so customer requests are not "modifications." Just as having a m-t-m suit made in your size isn't a "modification". That happens to be the sort of project I wanted to do this time, so I had to go to Italy - you can't buy this in UK.

I'll save the details for a build thread and not drift this one too much, but SL's offering to customers is unlimited choice in nearly everything apart from the base platform of course. There is no choosing "light oak or walnut" - you can have any wood veneer in the world (or paint, or any other surface finish) that you want, for any surface (my spec has a wood veneer they have never used before). Nor is there a choice of "gloss or matt" woodwork: you choose the % gloss from 0-100% in 5% increments. A lot of the furniture is hand built to customer design, and you can choose any sofas and armchairs you want from any manufacturer. The galley is a blank sheet of paper - any appliances in any location and they will change the glass fritting so that the places where you have clear windows/view and the places you have cabinets are a customer choice.

This is all good: there's space in the market for ready-to-wear suits, off-the-peg suit that can be modified, and tailor made from a fabric you found on the other side of the world.

The market also wants a choice in quality, but it's all pretty good overall: to use a dodgy car analogy you have Rolls Royce/Merc/Renault (or whatever) cars but even the last of those is of very decent quality. I thoroughly disagree Hinch's comment in #514 that Italian build quality is poor/inferior but I'm not getting into a spat on that

 

[jfm]

Internal stairs do several things for the boat.
At sea, they form a very safe way to get between the helm stations or if you want a quick sandwich or something from the galley.
Other times, the internal stairs make it easy to serve food on the flybridge dining area.

That comment leads on to the position of the galley.
Don't get me wrong - we don't like the galley located on the lower deck either.
Thats why our previous boat was a Sealing T51 (galley up and midships).
The P67 galley is, essentially the same but bigger.
We have three dining areas - cockpit, flybridge and dinette - all served centrally from our midships galley.
To me, it just makes sense,

But with the new entertaining areas of the foredeck and potentially a beach club on the bathing platform, I suppose an aft galley becomes more central.

Anyway, just my three penny worth.

I'm with you on this Hurricane, even if we are dinosaurs I love internal stairs and would never want an aft galley (nor a lower deck galley). Fortunately you can still get internal stairs, but not from Princess. Sunseeker (who are way more advanced on customisation than Princess) offered to build me a latest model Sunseeker 88 with internal stairs, and also offered it years ago on their Yacht 80 (the model MYAG used to own).

 

[Hurricane]

I'm with you on this Hurricane, even if we are dinosaurs I love internal stairs and would never want an aft galley (nor a lower deck galley). Fortunately you can still get these, but not from Princess. Sunseeker (who are way more advanced on customisation than Princess) offered to build me a latest model Sunseeker 88 with internal stairs, and also offered it years ago on their Yacht 80 (the model MYAG used to own).

Phew - I thought I was a lone dinosaur

 

[henryf]

I find myself wrestling with something of an identify crisis. On the one hand I’m old and crusty because I like a traditional flybridge design but on the other hand I’m young and trendy because I don’t want an internal staircase….

Forgive my misuse of modified over bespoke. I’ve got some squirrel scrotum which I’ll be taking to Plymouth with me for the next one

What I would say is that I can definitely see the good in many different boat design elements and it’s great that we all approach things from a different perspective.

 

[Hurricane]

There you go - I can certainly agree that - you are "young and trendy" whereas I'm an old dinosaur

 

[MapisM]

In that example above none of them as in that size (if i could afford that size ) I'd be looking at a princess x95

Urgh. NOW I understand why you don't like Italian boats!
Then again, Italian builders can easily outclass Brits also in a quest for the ugliest boat design, when they really try hard.
If you like the X95, pretty sure you must love this well known outstanding effort of Rizzardi...
Bound to raise more than one eyebrow wherever you go, if that's what you look for in a boat!

 

[rafiki_]

I’m away for a lot of April in Thailand. I think the British Motor Yacht show Swanwick is the middle of May, that’s a very good show to visit. Easy to compare stuff back to back.

I’m happy to pop the kettle on and talk about boats

Perhaps if I bring a mug, you can hand me one down onto the pontoon?

 

[henryf]

Perhaps if I bring a mug, you can hand me one down onto the pontoon?

You know you’re always welcome on the bathing platform….