Princess 35

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I am seriously thinking of buying a 1986 Princess 35, what should i be looking for & what is a sensible price to pay. Have seen one for about 70K. 2x165 hp diesels.
 

hlb

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AHA!! You've come to the right place.
The Princess 35 is one of the best sea boats Princess or indead any other planing boat builder has built.
It will plane happily on a following 6 or 7 even on auto pilot.
But keep the speed up.
In overfalls you may need to come down to 8 knots when the boat seems to glue itself to the water and just steams through
it.
The boat is heavily built with substansial cleats all in the right places.

The down side.
In common with about 90 % of boats most are fitted with Volvo engines. If you are a regular reader here you will have read about my exploits, replacing gearboxes and turbo's.

I've replaced 5 gearboxes and drives in two Volvo powered
boats. My present 35 now has much uprated hydraulic gear boxes @ aprox £4500 each to overcome the problem of large engines with little bits and pieces from a mecano set tacked on the back.
Turbo's are less of a problem cos you can go direct to Turbo agents for repacements at about £350 instead of the Volvo
price of about £650.

165 HP engines are to small for this boat. You need 200HP or
idealy, I saw one the other week with twin Cumins 250's in it.
Its for sale in the Pool/Solent area 1988 £85000. If you find it look at the bottom, it hit a rock at some point.

Mines for sale latter in the year for about the same price with new gearboxes, turbo's and loads of extas.

Thats the other point.
Look at the extras. Ie, heating, GPS, Auto Pilot, Davits,Tenders, Chart ploters. All add thousands to the price but more to buy as new. Pay attention to upholstery and markes round hull . Some are easily mended some are not.

Hope this helps. Find the right one and you wont be disapointed.

Haydn
 
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Haydn .Thank you for info re princess 35 i am seriously considering 1986 2x 165 tamd40b less than 600 hours lots of extras all nav eqp. osmosis gurantee good condition . 65k Is this about right
 

hlb

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Mark.
600 hours is not necessarily good news since that means its stood doing nothing for 17 years with all the oil droping to the bottom of sump.
Osmosis dont happen much these days so a guarantee isnt worth alot.
Not trying to be negative just giving you the facts.
65K sounds ok but for another 10-20K you could gain four or five years and get the bigger engines.
depends alot on what you want the boat to do.
If its on a river the engines are plenty but then turbos dont like rivers (To slow).
Dont take any notice of manufacturers speed data.
Mines supposed to do 28 knots. Ive had 25 just after the bottoms been done but also struggled 18 at the end of year.
Loading makes a big difference too.
Some where here it gives recomended Hp per ton of 50hp for planing boats.
My boat weighs 8 tons on the crane. Presume yours dose too??
So mines just on the limit.
Theres just the danger that in some conditions the boat could get stuck on the hump!! ie about 11-14 knots with the nose in the air and not being able to get over it.
By the way its not on outdrives is it cos in that case not as much Hp required.


Haydn
 
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sorry haydn didn't reply earlier re princess ,message lost in space! Thanks for the advice has been taken on board .The reason i am pursuing 35 with 2x 165hp is that it is the max money allows The seller is prepared to take a maxum sports boat in part ex which i am having trouble shifting even though its less than 1 year old . Do you think its better to buy a 1980s model less spec, or top of the range 1970s model?
appreciate your comments .Regards Mark.
 
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