Princess 35 Here We Go

[Princess35]

Hi everybody.
This is my first post about the complete rebuilding of my new boat.
All through this summer I made the decision that I wanted to buy a boat.
I looked at every shape and size available that I could afford.
My problem is that I would like a super yacht but like every body else obviously I can’t afford one.
I found nicks channel Aquaholic on YouTube with all those yachts and boat tours and he really helped with my decision on the style I liked and wanted.
The boats I really like is the flybridge cruisers with the patio door at the back.
So I started around looking for one.
I did tonnes and tonnes of research into the different makes and models available to fit my budget.
I was looking for a fixer upper as I’m not a millionaire I wanted rebuild it exactly to my taste and style.
So the boats I was looking at was the Fairline corniche, Birchwood, sealine flybridge and the princess etc.
My problem was every time I looked and got interested in a boat somebody came and brought it so I lost out.
I’ve looked at so many now I had almost lost hope that I would ever find one.
Then exactly 1 month ago whilst looking on eBay one evening I came across a sorry looking princess 35.
Amazing to actually see a boat which was local to where I live, in my price bracket and had a amazing spec.
So I went to view it. After a short river trial up on the flybridge I was hooked.
It had everything I wanted fitted and it all worked.
it was in abit of a state but I looked past all that.
So I made a offer and the buyer accepted.
The seller agreed to sail it down to my local marina that next weekend.
I decided not to bother with a survey as it’s a British princess boat and everything was going to be ripped out anyhow.
Photos are of the boat as I first viewed it.

 

[Princess35]

So what made my princess so special?
Back in 1987 when it was new it was built specifically to be used on the river Thames as a hire boat.
it doesn’t have 2 massive powerful engines fitted but a little British Leyland BMC 1.5 on a single shaft drive.
From my research I didn’t want stern drives as they are just a pain the the butt and costly to service.
This little engine means sensible priced parts and extremely good fuel consumption.
It has 2 Vetus 150 thrusters fitted. Bow and stern.
It has a diesel heater fitted.
To top it all. In 2012 it had a new Diesel Fischer panda 4kva generator fitted.
Just these cost more to have fitted than I paid for the whole boat.
I’ve owned it for a month now so I’ve got a few threads to write to catch up.
More to follow.

 

[Princess35]

I had the boat for a week and I’ve now had time to look into exactly what I brought.
Yes she is in a bit of a state.
The boat hasn’t been washed for years.
Both seats on the flybridge are completely rotted through.
The gauges on the flybridge are full of water and partly work.
The radar is completely nackered.
It’s engine ran but was a pig to start from cold.
When it ran it smoked enough to make Greta Thunberg proud.
The diesel heater didn’t work.
The kitchen was absolutely crap and minging.
It was minging inside and smelt damp.
The toilet hadn’t been pumped out for years.
The boats name is absolutely horrendous.
But the generator started and ran beautifully.
All the bilges were bone dry.
The covers were probably original from the 80s and were rotten but useable.
I couldn’t imagine having a survey on her in this state.
It would be like a Steven king novel lol.
Here’s some photos of what I have.

 

[Princess35]

More photos of what I have.

 

[Princess35]

So I booked the crane to have her out of the water to start on the hull renovation.
As I didn’t have a survey I had no idea what to expect.
Until then I decided to start on a few jobs that needed doing before I started the complete rip out whilst it’s out of the water.
I booked to have somebody give the engine and generator good Service.
I started to rip out the old carpets.
Worst of all to pump out that toilet.
When I connect up the pump out it actually took hours to finally get the water coming through clean.
I think those turds were down there for years.
To finish off I left a good few litres of toilet blue down there.
It’s a unusual toilet system as it’s a gravity flush system rather to a pumped macerator system.
The tank is directly below the toilet.
A strange nasty setup and will be ripped out eventually.
The service on the engines proved positive.
With new glow plugs, belts, Impeller oil etc the engine now starts beautifully.
It still smokes for a few mins but now goes off as it warms up.
It chugs away very smoothly when warm.
The generator starts and runs perfectly as it did but it’s now serviced.
The engine parts are silly prices. Like the old days when you could service your car for 50 quid lol. Obviously the labour was alittle more.
At least I now dont have to worry about having to fork out on a re power. New engine.
So she’s now ready to come out of the water for my complete strip out to begin.

 

[Princess35]

So Friday has come and it’s time to lift her out of the water.
As im a complete novice with driving boats I’m glad the weather was absolutely still.
The marina was like a mill pond that morning.
I’ve only been on her once up river and the owner was driving.
I couldn’t believe how manoeuvrable she was with the 2 thrusters.
The boat could move sideways perfectly. Spin around on the spot and position exactly where I wanted her to go.
Not bad for somebody who has no boating skills what so ever driving such a huge boat all on my own.
Fantastic. Just like a super yacht. lol.
So the chaps at the marina did there work and lifted her out of the water.
I actually couldn’t believe my eyes finding out how big she actually is.
When lifted out of the water she’s as big as my house.
I was very impressed with the hull design.
She’s specially built to cope with being parked in tidal marinas.
The prop and rudder are mounted up in the hull.
So if the tide goes out the boat will sit flat on the sea bed without damaging any of the running gear.
As the marina was pressure washing her off I learnt that she does have some osmosis.
Being a 1987 boat I’m told not to worry about it as it’s expected.
I could spend £10k having it blasted and re laminated but you have to draw a line somewhere.
So I’m going to have her cleaned down and antifowled painted.
I also decided to remove the davits off the back and get rid.
As getting on and off the boat is difficult having davits in the way makes access worse.
I also think they look dated and I don’t want a dingy swinging around on the back.
So I unbolted them and removed them.
I have also had the name removed. I think the name explains why lol.
So my plans with the hull are as follows.
A complete was down. Head to toe. Fill and repair the old davit holes. Rub down and re antifowel. Complete hull polish and repair and marks.
I’ve decided to have the blue part of the hull professionally vinyl wrapped to include new names etc.
The previous owner did a poor job hand painting it and it looks absolutely rubbish.
I also had the anodes replaced as they were almost completely gone.

 

[Princess35]

So now she’s finally out of the water it’s time to start on the mass rip out.
I’ve decided to get a company to help out with the hull renovation and to bring the hull up to a condition ready for vinyl wrapping.
Because we still have a hose pipe ban I’m not aloud to pressure washer the boat down myself so I decided to get a company to give her a very thorough wash down instead.
It took 2 chaps all day do clean her up.
For the rip out I really needed a skip next to the boat but wasn’t aloud due to there size.
There’s no way I could take this lot to the tip so I opted for a Hippo bag thingy and get a man with Van rubbish clearance to take it all away.
So I went inside my boat and spent 3 days stripping her out.
I completely filled the big hippo bag.
It’s all gone. All the old seating, kitchen, bedding, rotten flybridge seating and all the naff furniture.
I literally went in there with a sledge hammer, electric saw and a crowbar.
I now have a totally clear saloon, kitchen and helm seating.
The bag was totally filled and I’m only a quarter of the way with the strip out
I’ve ripped out all the gas stuff. That cooker will kill you so out it went.
I’m amazed how big the inside is once all the naff furniture is ripped out.

 

[stelican]

Dont remove the walls and floors as you will take forever to replace.

 

[Princess35]

Unfortunately I have no choice as the walls are completely rotten.
The floors are fibreglass and timber and are all in good condition so there staying.

Ok we are now almost up to date.
To finish off this week I have started to rip out all the old rotten wood and vinyl.
At the back of the saloon the windows have been leaking for years and it has rotted out all the old timber.
Lots of horrible smelly black mould growing so it’s time to put on the white suit, mask and goggles. I felt like I was going into a covid ward lol.
Whilst ripping out this stuff you really don’t want to be breathing this stuff in.
Mould can make you quite sick so best to be safe.
So I set about cutting and ripping out all the nasty plywood and beading.
I’ve managed to completely strip out one side. It certainly feels better knowing that all that wet wood has gone on one side.

We are now up to date with my progress on this boat project.
I plan to give weekly updates on her progress with lots of photos.
I estimate this project is going to take over 1 year to complete so there’s going to be a lot of reading.
The strip out continues more next week.

 

[stelican]

Look fwd to following your project.
Interesting propulsion set-up you have there.

 

[thejonesey]

Great to read. Good luck with the project.

 

[dougtate]

good luck, makes my trials and tribulations with cest la vie look like peanuts

 

[kashurst]

a very unusual P35, perfect for river cruising. It must be unique? good luck with the rebuild.

 

[Portofino]

Good interesting read with plenty of pics just what this forum needs at the mo .Great you are putting new life in her ,Ideal mechanical set up for the river .

 

[oldgit]

Pretty certain have been past that boat several times while visiting the the Thames, cannot remember ever seeing it move or leave its mooring.
Princess did do the odd custom build boat, including a couple with a single engine purely forThames based buyers, one version was a "Sedan" and lacked a flybridge.
There used to be a Princess 38 in Dover fitted with pair of tiny little 60 or 80 HP engines alledgedly to accompany X channel swimmers.
The really interesting thing is what is revealed underneath the stern.
A completely altered transom hull moulding for the single propeller presumably in an effort to reduce draft and protect the propeller.
As the boat would never be going the plane the standard bustle bolted to the stern is also absent.
From the photos the exterior does not look that bad.
Would not be worrying about Osmosis.

 

[Greg2]

Thai is quite a project! I look forward to reading updates as it progresses ?

 

[kashurst]

Have you considered sanding back and just repainting the blue hull section? It would be more durable and probably a lot cheaper than vinyl wrap - especially on the river. If it gets scratched , easy to fix and keep it looking good.
Also Is it worth removing (and keeping) the radar arch? Might save some faffing about in future.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Now it is out of the water leave the hull externally as long as you can as it will dry out nicely before you paint, wrap or Antifoul

also if not too late a lot of the stuff you have stripped out is worth keeping for templates for the new stuff.

looking forward to seeing this project move forward

 

[Restoration man]

Very unique boat ,
Im struggling to see why anyone would fit radar to boat that’s never going to sea ,
Also don’t pull any bulkheads out unless your really really need to , they are usually Structual and will require re fiberglassing in properly

 

[Mr Googler]

Oh yes….this is right up my street! ??

I had the same thought on the radar. Gut it don’t bother with a new one…no need for it

I agree on wrapping too. The fenders will rub through…..especially if tied to a wall or bank and they need to go up higher. 2 pack paint is the way to go. The prep needs to be to much the same standard if wrapping anyway

Very best of luck with the project ??