Princess 435, your experiences good and bad appreciated.

[Greg01]

I am researching the Princess 435 aft cabin 435.Have been out on 2 boats now, but would appreciate any feed back from any body who has owned or skippered one.

 

[jhr]

Try a PM to Forumite "Byron", who used to own one.

 

[Renegade_Master]

take to Jake at PBO or it may be Mr Cummerlidge the crusiing guy, mention Brian Moran, he has his 435 here in Duquesa. Our principal Phil help him bring it round from Santander, Phil did an article in an earlier MBY " A Tricky Delivery" via Katie

Brian and his wife have owned her for several years and now live on her.

 

[Marsupial]

I will declare now that I am not a highly experienced Mobo sailer but:

Have skippered one these for couple of hundred miles in all conditions from flat calm to F6 on the nose. The two 306 volvos struggled to get it on the plane - frankly I am not sure it ever made it over the hump even in calm conditions, flat out 17knts (GPS sog) was the best I saw - I think Princess think it goes faster anyway agree thats a volvo issue not Princess - but I felt it was under engined. (2,400 rpm by the way)

As a living on/in boat found it very comfortable but not very impressed with the standard of joinery - but that could be a personal taste thing. It seemed to be "lightly built", fragile - the joinery not the hull. (but nothing broke)

Coped with reasonable seas OK - F4 but was a bit bumpy at F6 1.5 - 2 mtr waves - not experienced enough in Mobos to try it beam on in those seas but I feel it would have been stable enough.

Found it hard to control at slow speeds - probably my lack of mobo experience - but in and out of neutral at tickover worked - forget the rudders, steer with the props - others on the forum may have better more refined strategies that deal with this aspect of Mobo control.

Overall if it was a purchase to live on or "do the canals" no problem, repitch the props to 8kts to "work" the engines. As a sports cruiser or sea boat I would suggest the larger engined version would be a better bet.

Just my thoughts, oh and did I enjoy it? yes, could I afford it sorry guys the thirst is beyond my means.

Fuel consumption was around 1 gallon per mile - owner reckoned it was slighly more.

/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I owned a 435 in the early 90's and it was certainly one of the best boats I've ever owned. Its incredibly spacious inside for its length with a huge aft cabin and a separate dinette opposite the galley which we found a boon. The hull is one of Mr Olesinki's best, being long enough and sharp enough at the bow to be good in a head sea but also with enough buoyancy to be good in a following sea as well. I can't think of another 43 footer of the same vintage that I would rather take out in marginal conditions. To my eyes, the 435 is also still a good looking boat
One critical factor is the engines though. Most 435's were fitted with 306hp TAMD61A engines and these are a bit underpowered pushing the boat to 26knots or so max and a lot less with fouling. A better bet are the 71A or 71B engines, 357 and 380hp respectively, which have enough power to push the boat closer to 30knots and with more torque give better acceleration
The only downside about the 435 is that the Princess finish of the time was a bit basic but solid enough
Altogether a bit of a classic IMHO

 

[Renegade_Master]

Finish was a bit naff but the construction was very strong which contributed to the weight and hence they were slow with certain engines.

Great sea boat too

 

[Greg01]

Thanks for your reply Mike, do you mind if I quote your reply in my article, just that your findings coincide with my own testing of 2 435s, one with TAMD61s and the other with TAMD71Bs and I would like to reinfoce it with a second independant opinion.

thanks

Greg Copp
MBY technical writer

 

[Renegade_Master]

Check out Brian Moran Greg

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Be my guest