Princess 45 Refit

Never have yet.
Same here.
Known several folks who have purchased this stuff.
File under
Adding Curry Powder to favourite A/F.
Adding Copper Power to any other A/F.
Coating prop blades with Lanolin.
Any type of "electronic" anti barnycule scarer you care you mention no matter how expensive.
 
Moving forward to the guest cabin, or as it's been renamed "Susans dressing room".

The vinyl is hanging off around the portlights and other places and someone has covered parts of it will some yellow fabric. Not to mention the million mild steel staples that have gone rusty! The woodwork is light oak throughout and in good condition. We want to retain the original feel of the boat so the vinyl will be replaced.

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Removing the vinyl reveals some water damaged ply. Upon investigation it turns out that some guardrail stanchion bases are leaking. Princess didn’t through bolt the bases, they welded stud on the underside of them some of these studs had detached themselves so new ones were welded on.

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This went in the skip. Before refitting the ply the wood was removed from the bottom and the void was filled with loft insulation in sealed plastic bags, as was the area around the portlights and above.

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The vinyl was completely replaced and the stainless fittings cleaned and polished

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New curtains, bedding and a TV. We bought an extra duvet cover and Susan cut it up to make matching curtains.

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Moving forward to the guest cabin, or as it's been renamed "Susans dressing room".

The vinyl is hanging off around the portlights and other places and someone has covered parts of it will some yellow fabric. Not to mention the million mild steel staples that have gone rusty! The woodwork is light oak throughout and in good condition. We want to retain the original feel of the boat so the vinyl will be replaced.

View attachment 202910

View attachment 202911

Removing the vinyl reveals some water damaged ply. Upon investigation it turns out that some guardrail stanchion bases are leaking. Princess didn’t through bolt the bases, they welded stud on the underside of them some of these studs had detached themselves so new ones were welded on.

View attachment 202912

This went in the skip. Before refitting the ply the wood was removed from the bottom and the void was filled with loft insulation in sealed plastic bags, as was the area around the portlights and above.

View attachment 202913

The vinyl was completely replaced and the stainless fittings cleaned and polished

View attachment 202914

New curtains, bedding and a TV. We bought an extra duvet cover and Susan cut it up to make matching curtains.

View attachment 202915

View attachment 202916
Lovely and fresh!
 
Moving forward to the guest cabin, or as it's been renamed "Susans dressing room".

The vinyl is hanging off around the portlights and other places and someone has covered parts of it will some yellow fabric. Not to mention the million mild steel staples that have gone rusty! The woodwork is light oak throughout and in good condition. We want to retain the original feel of the boat so the vinyl will be replaced.

View attachment 202910

View attachment 202911

Removing the vinyl reveals some water damaged ply. Upon investigation it turns out that some guardrail stanchion bases are leaking. Princess didn’t through bolt the bases, they welded stud on the underside of them some of these studs had detached themselves so new ones were welded on.

View attachment 202912

This went in the skip. Before refitting the ply the wood was removed from the bottom and the void was filled with loft insulation in sealed plastic bags, as was the area around the portlights and above.

View attachment 202913

The vinyl was completely replaced and the stainless fittings cleaned and polished

View attachment 202914

New curtains, bedding and a TV. We bought an extra duvet cover and Susan cut it up to make matching curtains.

View attachment 202915

View attachment 202916

That's a big difference, looks ace!
 
Time to deal with the lower helm.

Although someone had fitted a more modern helm, the radar and plotter were ancient and they had made a very poor job of fitting the engine gauges.

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Ancient electronics, the radar actually worked, the plotter didn't

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The walnut effect panel was not actually fixed in place, it just hung on the gauges, frequently falling down.

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Removing the electronics leaves a nicely sized hole for some Android tablets.

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Some wooden battens and a ply frame, ready for some Perspex to fix the tablets to.

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Both tablets fitted, added a thin strip of Perspex below the tablets for extra support. Either can be used as a stand alone plotter, a mirror of one of the flybridge MFD’s, a monitor for the Victron systems or anything else a tablet can do.

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Looking better, time to sort out the engine gauges, watch this space.

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Using android tablets is a great idea. What nav software are you using?
I have a pair of Garmin MFDs on the flybridge, which is where i usually helm from, so went for the Android tablets at the lower helm. I'm using Garmin Active Captain, so no cost for that or the charts :)

In the picture above the left tablet is a mirror of one of the MFDs and the right one is acting as a stand alone plotter.

The tablets are Doogee T20s's currently on sale at Amazon for the ridiculously low price of £59.99 (no connection).
 
What year did you do the android tablets? Just wondering if I should claim bragging rights for giving you the idea 🤣🤣

It’s a no brainer isn’t it and they work so well plus any app on the google store!

Looks awesome
 
What year did you do the android tablets? Just wondering if I should claim bragging rights for giving you the idea 🤣🤣
These were fitted 3 years ago, originally Samsung, but changed to the Doogee ones virtually identical size with the USB port in the same place. Had a Samsung one on the previous boat from about 2017.
It’s a no brainer isn’t it and they work so well plus any app on the google store!
Yep, i have the Victron app on there, amongst others, but i've since fitted the Cerbo and GX touch, so it doesn't get used as much.
Looks awesome
Thanks.
 
Great idea using the tablets. I’m going to replace my old Furuno radar with a Raymarine Quantum that will connect to my Axiom 9. I will have a gap left so I think I’ll get a tablet to run Navionics, Savvy Navvy, etc. The Doogee U11 looks decent and some packages have a mouse which could be handy.
 
Well that was the easy part of the lower helm job. Removing the walnut effect panel reveals this mess. I don’t think carpentry was a previous owner speciality, neither was wiring.

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Then this, Oh dear!

Stop laughing at the back.

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A new ply panel fitted for the replacement gauges. New gauges slightly bigger, so the holes have been enlarged accordingly. The new gauges secure the walnut effect panel. The switches are next to impossible to see as they are lying flat and they do not illuminate, so I cut a slot beneath the gauges for them. All of the switches were replaced by new ones that illuminate.

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Gauges and switches fitted. Finding a full set of matching switch tops in the UK proved difficult, but I found a company in the US that had everything I needed. The warning buzzers, which were previously just hanging on the wires behind the gauges, are now fitted to where the key switches were, the key switches are being replaced by stop/start switches

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What a mess! The thick cables are the engine harnesses, one from each engine to the three way adapter, one from each adapter to the flybridge helm and the final one, chopped very short, going to the lower helm instruments. It’s a miracle anything worked.

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Removed the wiring and gauges, fitted a new ply panel and installed the new gauges. Also fitted the new switches and wired them up.

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Made a new wiring harness for the gauges and connected it to the DIN rail mounted Wago connectors.

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The connectors needed 2, 3 or 4 wires so for neatness I used 4 way connecters throughout. I divided them into three groups, port engine, starboard engine and everything else. The engine harnesses had been cut stupidly short, so they were extended using the original cable colours, soldered and heat shrunk. Bootlace ferules are crimped onto the ends of the wires, which are then inserted into the Wago connectors. A small screwdriver inserted into the square hole next to the wire releases it.

Top right in the picture is an Actisense EMU1, which is connected to the analogue engine sensors, converting the data to NMEA2000 and putting this onto the NMEA2000 network.

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The panel next to the engine controls has the non-operational Cetrek autopilot controller and a redundant hailer/intercom fitted, both of which were removed.

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In their place, an engine stop/start panel to replace the key switches removed earlier. The power switch operates a latching relay so the power can be turned on/off from either helm. Drat, mistyped "Papa", will correct that later as i have some EGT alarms to add to that panel.

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All finished!

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