Princess 32 engine question

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tillergirl

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A chum is considering buying a Princess 32 with twin Volvo 75HP and outdrives. Can anyone advise what consumption he will get. Any obvious things to look out for? He assumes these are the original fit on this 1978 boat. He's going to use it for coastal cruising. Waht are they like for sea work?
 
hi
We had one of these with the same engines, they are fairly smooth reliable units, albeit a bit smoky on tickover. Not economic though by any means.
Head gaskets can go but cheap car parts fit.
They will push you along at about 10knts with 12knt max
 
We had a P32 with 106hp volvos and just scraped 10 - 12 knots. IMHO the 75 hp are a bit light for coastal work. They will give displacement speeds but not much more and I would have thought they will strain when punching a tide.

We used 2 gph at river speeds and a lot more when trying (but not quite succeding) to plane.

Very popular boats when they were built and now. Capable in lumpy seas but last generation hulls so not as good as newer boats.
 
Please Please Please.Get those ancient outdrives checked over by someone who knows what they are doing.Any major problems with them could cost him a fair percentage of the boats value.
 
If the engine/outdrive assembly is the AQD21A they will be Peugeot/Indenor based 4pot engines marinised by Volvo and now becoming very difficult to get spares for, Legs will probably be 270's.
As Greg2 says not likely to be sparkling performance and will certainly not plane.
I liked the P32 hull and layout and a really nice example at a very good price might even be worth re-engining but I am sure others here will think I am losing my marbles.
 
Yes they were the Indenor 4 pot engines. He's not looking for fast performance so he's not upset about the inability to plane. However, he is going to get the engine's checked out. Does not look that heavily used but ....
 
When did a 32’ boat with 2 x 75 HP engines become unsuitable for coastal use?? Fine for displacement speeds .... I would be more worried about the condition of the engines/drives not the HP of the engines …
 
Slowboat.You must be very well aware by now that unless it has 2 x 480hp engines on those complicated new outdrives and can do a least 40 knots with 3 (electric)toilets,at least 500MW of air conditioning and a set of electronics that puts the Queen Elizebeth 111 to shame,it cannnot be a boat that anyone could possibly have any fun or enjoyment with /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
 
I had a Project 31 with twin AQD21's and 250 legs. I averaged 2 miles per gallon at sea cruising at 10 - 12 knots although I did work tides in my favour. At river speeds I got around 5 miles per gallon.

Parts are difficult to get and from Volvo are very expensive. The non Marine parts can still be got from motor factors though as they are based on a Peugot base engine. Can't give you the type at the moment but have it on file at home. I managed to get all parts for a full rebuild in 1998. One of the problems with these engines is corrosion in the cooling system compnents, especially the header tank on the front of the engine and with the exhaust bend. These parts are very expensive from Volvo (£1000 and £300 respectivly if memory serves me correctly) but fortunatly Bowman do a suitable ehaust manifold / header tank for around £500 which effectibly replaces all of the problem parts. I replaced the cooling system on both engines using these parts with great success.

No major problems with the legs, they are rated higher than 75 hp so would not have worked to hard. Corosion can be a problem if they have not been looked after and anodes changed when required, and the reverse latch mechinism can seize up and should be cleaned and freed every couple of years or so.

Hope this is of use.
Regards,
Eddie
 
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