New build Princess F55 flybridge

[TonyR123]

quite like the plastic markers - but chain counter (with a reset now and again) along with anchor cam is fine. Without getting into anchor arguments my delta "ploughed" a few times this year so next boat ordered with an ultra.

 

[henryf]

Boat lighting, it seems has moved on leaps and bounds in the 10 years since our last boat was built. The headline news is that this one is all LED so a massive saving on the batteries when on the hook. I have to say there isn’t an obvious downside in terms of colour - led lighting can sometimes feel a bit cold.

Princess also seem to have opened up a whole new department - mood lighting. There are loads of them all over the boat. Bathrooms, bedrooms, stairs, saloon, kitchen - you name it there’s mood lighting and do you know what, it really adds another dimension of luxury. There’s a fine line when it comes to accent lights, really easy to cheapen the mood but the interior design bods deserve a pat on the back. There’s an awful lot you don’t really appreciate at a boat show, you only appreciate it once you’ve got the thing on your berth and this is another one of them.

As well as the accent lights there are quite a lot of dimmable lights and that’s what prompted the post. The cockpit lights are dimmable and we had a problem, they didn’t light up. In the end it was a WAGO pin not pushed fully into a connector, the guys replaced it just in case. But as you can see from the photo there’s a load of behind the scenes stuff even for something as simple as lighting. If I was building the boat I wouldn’t have bothered but I’m glad Princess did.

 

[jfm]

Very much agree Henry. 10-15 years ago lighting (in houses too) was just a matter of hanging a bold in middle of room or putting some spot lights in. Now when you're designing a new home or boat its a massive topic and a core element of the design. Hidden LED strips (which is what I think you mean by "mood lighting") can look great if done well.

Your picture looks like a bunch of dimmers. Do you also have digital switching or is it "traditional" whereby the light switch itself connects/interrupts the DC power to the lighting circuit ? Can you switch lights from the Garmin screens? (if yes then you have digital switching)

Princess wiring = very neat.

 

[henryf]

No, it’s all traditional switching so on a dimmable fitting a momentary tap turns on / off, holding either brightens on an alternating basis.


Yes by mood lighting I really meant accent lighting. There’s definitely a group of people who’s sole purpose is lighting. The more I look at walls and fabric choices I keep seeing little accents in a contrasting materials or textures. Trying to option all that stuff at your size / level would literally finish me off

I guess in reality there’s a blueprint / backstop to fall back on and people who can advise with specific expertise in that field.

The problem is you only see all this stuff when you’re spending quiet time on board. You don’t notice it all at a busy show. It prolongs the unwrapping joy and I guess is the difference between brands.

Once again it works for me because I’m happy with the in house design choices. I actually wouldn’t have gone as far had it been down to me (and the experience would have been poorer as a result).

 

[rafiki_]

Boat lighting, it seems has moved on leaps and bounds in the 10 years since our last boat was built. The headline news is that this one is all LED so a massive saving on the batteries when on the hook. I have to say there isn’t an obvious downside in terms of colour - led lighting can sometimes feel a bit cold.

Princess also seem to have opened up a whole new department - mood lighting. There are loads of them all over the boat. Bathrooms, bedrooms, stairs, saloon, kitchen - you name it there’s mood lighting and do you know what, it really adds another dimension of luxury. There’s a fine line when it comes to accent lights, really easy to cheapen the mood but the interior design bods deserve a pat on the back. There’s an awful lot you don’t really appreciate at a boat show, you only appreciate it once you’ve got the thing on your berth and this is another one of them.

As well as the accent lights there are quite a lot of dimmable lights and that’s what prompted the post. The cockpit lights are dimmable and we had a problem, they didn’t light up. In the end it was a WAGO pin not pushed fully into a connector, the guys replaced it just in case. But as you can see from the photo there’s a load of behind the scenes stuff even for something as simple as lighting. If I was building the boat I wouldn’t have bothered but I’m glad Princess did.

Will I see these from the bathing platform Henry?

 

[henryf]

Will I see these from the bathing platform Henry?

Tell you what, If you promise to take your shoes off I’ll let you pop onto the cockpit and look through the patio doors……

 

[henryf]

The highlight of this month’s Motorboat & Yachting magazine - the only such publication in the world not to feature a single sail or main sheet, is of course page 37 where our very own @Hurricane took honours in the photo competition but tucked away in the depths of page 80 was an advertorial on a product called Vircru.

Totally by chance I was fitting just that kit to the boat this weekend. I fitted it to the old P50 not long before we sold it and was really impressed so it got a place on the new tub.

Essentially the control unit connects to your battery (12 or 24 volt) and that powers it. The gubbins inside contain a SIM based internet link (it’s all done inside there’s no actual SIM card to plug in), a GPS sensor, a temperature sensor and some local communications technology that allows it to talk to various add on sensors.

You download an app to your phone then link everything up using your phone’s camera and a QR code on each bit of the kit.

In my case the domestic and engine batteries were next to each other so I was able to take advantage of the secondary battery monitoring feature.

I’ve got a little proximity sensor and magnet bar for the patio door, a bilge monitor that detects water and also a little unit which plugs into a 240 volt socket on the boat to monitor shore power supply. Haslar marina has intelligent pedestals which allow you to remotely turn power on and off and also lets you know the state of the earth breaker but you don’t know if the breakers on your boat have tripped - this let’s you know.

Installation is really easy and the individual sensors seems to have a good range. They talk to each other through a 55ft boat. The main control unit seems to have a decent mobile connection, they talk about mounting on a roof but I’ve located this one in the lazarette space.

The app is fairly intuitive to use and you get a month or so free connectivity before you need to start paying subscriptions.

The only one criticism I would say is there’s no way to bulk clear alerts (which might be your patio door opening) and it can take ages to do them individually.

Great peace of mind though being able to monitor your batteries, shore power, temperature etc and also check where the boat is from anywhere in the world.

 

[henryf]

Additional files

 

[henryf]

What you see on your phone

 

[Hurricane]

The highlight of this month’s Motorboat & Yachting magazine - the only such publication in the world not to feature a single sail or main sheet, is of course page 37 where our very own @Hurricane took honours in the photo competition but tucked away in the depths of page 80 was an advertorial on a product called Vircru.

Yep good mag this month.
But don't forget the feature this month is @Hooligan s Greek adventure.
Those anchorages that he shows in his photos are fantastic.

 

[henryf]

Yep good mag this month.
But don't forget the feature this month is @Hooligan s Greek adventure.
Those anchorages that he shows in his photos are fantastic.

Haven't got that far yet, only scanned through quickly.

 

[rafiki_]

Tell you what, If you promise to take your shoes off I’ll let you pop onto the cockpit and look through the patio doors……

Henry, if you’re not carElul I will take everything off

 

[henryf]

We went out on Saturday and took a young man a bit braver than me with his drone. I still worried on his behalf but a total of 3 take-offs & landings were successfully undertaken. I did the editing on board so don't be too critical. The area off Stokes Bay towards Osbourne Bay thankfully wasn't too busy. We did have a tiny spot of rain so took half an hour for a floating lunch.

Finally got some waves leaving Portsmouth to test the Gyro and initial thoughts are Wow! I can't wait to have guests on board, I'm probably more excited for them than they are themselves

 

[TonyR123]

The highlight of this month’s Motorboat & Yachting magazine - the only such publication in the world not to feature a single sail or main sheet, is of course page 37 where our very own @Hurricane took honours in the photo competition but tucked away in the depths of page 80 was an advertorial on a product called Vircru.

Have ordered something similar (I think) from Princess with the build - Siren Marine. I admit I took the lazy option of letting them sort it (probably for a price)

 

[henryf]

Chatting with the Princess engineer when he came to sort out the cockpit lights Siren Marine were mentioned. Apparently when Yamaha bought them out it became harder to fit their stuff on a commercial basis and he said that installation could be quite time consuming.

It may have been that back then everything g was hard wired which would be a nightmare. You could have someone install the Vircru system if DIY isn’t your thing and it shouldn’t be a horrific bill. You’ve obviously got to get someone onto the boat and then budget a couple of hours to a install and do the basic set up for you.

The kit has actually gone up a bit in price since I bought it for the P50.

 

[xcw]

We went out on Saturday and took a young man a bit braver than me with his drone. I still worried on his behalf but a total of 3 take-offs & landings were successfully undertaken. I did the editing on board so don't be too critical. The area off Stokes Bay towards Osbourne Bay thankfully wasn't too busy. We did have a tiny spot of rain so took half an hour for a floating lunch.

Finally got some waves leaving Portsmouth to test the Gyro and initial thoughts are Wow! I can't wait to have guests on board, I'm probably more excited for them than they are themselves

Please spare a thought for us raggies as you power past at 25knots on your stabilised platform, sipping Krug from crystal flutes whilst creating wake only seen in the Southern Ocean. I will be most upset if you spill my tin mug of steaming PG Tips . ps lovely boat BTW

 

[Andrew M]

What you see on your phone

Good to see this in use, I am very tempted to fit this system too.

 

[TonyR123]

Chatting with the Princess engineer when he came to sort out the cockpit lights Siren Marine were mentioned. Apparently when Yamaha bought them out it became harder to fit their stuff on a commercial basis and he said that installation could be quite time consuming.

It may have been that back then everything g was hard wired which would be a nightmare. You could have someone install the Vircru system if DIY isn’t your thing and it shouldn’t be a horrific bill. You’ve obviously got to get someone onto the boat and then budget a couple of hours to a install and do the basic set up for you.

The kit has actually gone up a bit in price since I bought it for the P50.

Interesting that it has got harder to fit?? Amazingly I do quite a bit of stuff myself. Degree in Electronics but really a software developer. Any issues with siren marine then can always install the vircru myself at a later date.

 

[henryf]

Please spare a thought for us raggies as you power past at 25knots on your stabilised platform, sipping Krug from crystal flutes whilst creating wake only seen in the Southern Ocean. I will be most upset if you spill my tin mug of steaming PG Tips . ps lovely boat BTW

Always try to be as friendly as I can be out there on the water. We have some yachtist’s food on board as well just in case we have to host them.

 

[henryf]

Interesting that it has got harder to fit?? Amazingly I do quite a bit of stuff myself. Degree in Electronics but really a software developer. Any issues with siren marine then can always install the vircru myself at a later date.

Other than bulk clearing of alerts not being possible the Vircru system seems pretty good and if I can make everything talk to the main control unit it must be simple. Literally just photograph the QR code on your phone.