Princess 50 Mk III

J

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Hi All,

Looking to upgrade from my 2003 P45 and have been researching various options. I believe I have finally narrowed it down to a c2010-ish Princess 50 Mark 3.

I'd love any opinions of the boat; good, bad or otherwise. My specific concerns are around the V drives. I've no experience with these but have heard they can be a bit noisy and require additional maintenance over straight shafts. I'm assuming this is partially true but probably not too dissimilar to pod drives?

Also, Can anyone tell me how the Mark3 progressed/changed during its production run; 2008-2012 I think?

Lastly, I've been trying to get a straight answer on whether Princess use cored hulls. My understanding is that divinacell coring is used on the decks and topsides only with the hulls being solid fibre glass. Can anyone confirm (or otherwise) this please?

Thanks again for any and all input.

Cheers,

James.
 
Princess guarantee the V drives on a P50 for the life of the boat regardless of owner changes. Because they are on straight shafts :)

Had ours 5 years now. Some very early ones were fitted with engines that would be considered small compared to later ones. By 2010 you would be fine. We have the CAT C12 lumps which pop you seamlessly onto the plane and carry on to over 30 knots on a clean bottom.

You get spoiled by the full sized galley which turns into a caravan kitchen when moved upstairs on later 50 something footers and you also lose the separate sitting room / dining area of the 50 when looking at the modern equivalent.

Very easy to handle as a husband & wife team, or indeed husband & husband / wife & wife - this is the new millennium after all. A stern thruster removes the need to pull hard on any ropes.

Handling is very sharp for a big lump and you can thrill guests with a couple of tight turns. Crew cabin used for storage, tropical reverse cycle A/C is excellent and keeps us boating throughout winter.

Henry :)
 
Thanks all, especially Henryf. I read with interest your review of the P52 Fly on another site. I agreed with all your comments.

Of the two boats I have to choose from; one is a 2008 with Volvo's and many additional options such as dishwasher, watermaker etc. The other is a 2010 with CAT's. A little more expensive and not many options...

Both are one owner vessels so assuming they are both in reasonable condition I assume you'd recommend the CAT powered boat?

Thanks again,

James.
 
Before you decide on engine choice speak to any Volvo dealer and then Finning U.K. And obtain service costs for each make , ask Finning's there mileage charges from there base in Poole to wherever you intend mooring the boat , I am assuming your keeping it on the south coast . I'm sure Henry can also give you some input as to costs of his engine servicing over the last few years.
 
I think it comes down to the individual boats. I'm not too fussed about a dishwasher onboard or indeed a washing machine but some of the bits ours came with were things I wouldn't have chosen but now would struggle to live without (it was a cancelled order stock boat).

Reverse cycle A/C is excellent and moves a lot of air round the boat. Ice maker, paserelle (used as a dinghy crane), are nice to have, crew cabin might help re-sale to some although we use as storage. Big generator (part of A/C package) means we don't have to think about what's turned on. Of choice I would have the CAT engines. I see them as the smallest of a larger range rather than the largest of a smaller range be that right or wrong.

Henry :)
 
You are more limited in terms of servicing as CAT have a monopoly in the UK via Finnings. A bit of an odd system whereby you pay for the service on order. They big themselves up as being highly efficient although strangely still haven't come back to me after calling yesterday to book a service. I spoke to head office, then someone from Poole who was getting a salesman to call - scary that you need someone to sell servicing. Lots of layers.

The reality is I'm yet to be convinced by any of the main dealers. Some great individuals within organisations but they are organisations and so you lose the human touch.

Henry :)
 
Whitelighter said:
V drives are nothing like pods.
I have them - additional maintenance amounts to an extra oil change at service.
Not noticed any additional noise over the engines
Click to expand...
Do tell J, are you really replacing the oil of your BPM v-drives as often as the engine oil?!?
I know from more than one reliable source that they are bomb proof, and unless badly overheated for some reason, they can run for 3000 hours if not more, without touching them.
In fact, oil inside them is only meant to keep gears lubricated, which is a much easier life than in a high pressure gearbox - let alone an engine...!

@ the OP: not sure if you are still interested to pros and cons of V-drives after henryf confirmed that the P50 doesn't have any, but just in case, the only maintenance issue on a V-drive boat actually has nothing to see with the V-drive units themselves, and it's the replacement/maintenance of shaft seals, which on a v-drive boat are inherently harder to access (YMMV though, depending on the actual installation).

Oh, and ref. your last question, sorry but I have no idea about whether P hulls in general (nor the 50 specifically) are cored or solid GRP.
Otoh, there's one thing I'm sure of, and it's that there's only one way someone could sell me a GRP boat with a cored hull: over my dead body. :ambivalence:
 
Thanks All,

Interesting to learn first hand that the P50 Mk3 is actually on straight shafts... Thanks Henryf. I've had two different Princess brokers tell me they are on V drives... I guess I'll take all their other info with a huge lump of salt...

Good news though.

I should also state that I live in New Zealand and would look to export the boat from the Med. Interestingly, we have the same issue with CAT having a single supplier of parts and maintenance. I have CAT 3126's on my current P45 so I know the issues with maintenance. That said, since there are no warranty issues I just get my local engineer to do all servicing. I buy the parts/consumables through the CAT distributor myself which seems to work out OK.

Thanks again. James.

P.S. Anyone near Mallorca at all?
 
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