PROJECT 31
When three friends decided to build a boat together they never dreamed that fifty years on, the company would be celebrating its enormous success as Princess Yachts International with this - an exquisitely restored example of the original vessel
you don’t expect “One of our first expenses as a newly formed company was a firkin of ale,” to come out of the mouth of one of Europe’s largest and most successful boatbuilders, but David King is no ordinary businessman, and the vessel under discussion is no ordinary boat. We’re having lunch at The Dock, the restaurant at King Point Marina in Plymouth, and the boat in question is visible below us through huge floor-to-ceiling windows. Moored against the pontoon is an absolutely immaculate Project 31 – the embodiment of where the Princess story first began.
Princess Yachts International celebrated 50 years of boat production last year, and the Project 31 in question, an example of the first model it produced, is the company’s half-century birthday present to itself. PYI are not the first to do this of course – Sunseeker restored a 1970 Sovereign 17 speedboat which appeared in the Bond film Quantum of Solace, Fairline celebrated 40 years by restoring a Fairline 19, and even Sealine sported an original 19 Weekender suitably revitalised for its 40th in 2011. But none did it quite as spectacularly as this…
David warms to his story of the origins of both the Project 31 and the entire Princess Yachts International empire. “After a couple of successful holidays on the Norfolk Broads, myself and two friends felt that there could be a market for boat hire in our home town of Plymouth, and in 1965 we decided to go into the charter business ourselves. For that of course, we needed a boat, and after discovering the cost of suitable secondhand craft, we felt it would be better to build our own. We approached Kemp & Pitt, who were part of Senior Marine and sold GRP mouldings to the trade, and purchased a Senior 31 hull and deck moulding for £650 to fit out. But first we needed a place to build it and found a suitable building in Newport Street” (still the home of Princess Yachts International but now the site of one of the company’s six huge shipyards that employ over 2,000 people). The building had previously been used as a fertiliser store, and that firkin of ale (quarter of a beer barrel) persuaded the local fire brigade to hose the sulphur from the internal walls to create a habitable working environment. Marine Projects (Plymouth) Ltd was born.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
“Part way through building the boat we were still debating the merits of the charter business, and the biggest problem we could foresee was the boat getting stuck in another port due to bad weather with the next customers arriving at Plymouth for their week’s hire. We couldn’t find a satisfactory solution and so decided to complete the boat and sell it instead. We reckoned we’d spent about £2,400 in total so when we sold the boat for £3,400, we were absolutely delighted and held a party to celebrate our £1,000 profit – a huge amount of money in the mid 1960s. Then we tallied up exactly what we had spent – it came to precisely £3,416…”
But by then, the trio had serious interest in the boat they’d built, and firm orders for two more. Suddenly they were boatbuilders – but this time they ensured that the numbers added up. “We had two hull types, a single keel and a bilge keel version that was created by slotting blanks into the mould that allowed us to attach shallow wooden keels. There were very few marinas in the UK; the bilge keel versions could take the ground on drying moorings. We created an
What impressed me most was how well it seemed to have stood up. The hull looked sound and I couldn’t believe the condition of the deck
extended-wheelhouse version and introduced two layout options – an open-plan interior and one with a separate forward cabin. To begin with, we fitted Perkins 4107 diesel engines with Enfield outdrives, but we soon switched to Volvo Penta, offering twin D19 1.9 68hp diesels or D22 2.9-litre 92hp diesels. The engines were under the back seat and we had to extend this further into the cockpit to accommodate the larger 6-cylinder motors. We also offered single-engined versions to be used as hire boats – there was a fleet of them on the Shannon.”
The Project 26 and a Project 21 fitted with a Ford Mangoletsi petrol engine followed, and the Pilgrim 23 in 1968. Such was the success of the Project 31 that the fledgling company was soon outstripping the supply of mouldings. Kemp & Pitt could only muster two hulls and decks a month, so Marine Projects negotiated a licence to mould the boats itself. “We were building and selling them at the rate of three or four a month. The local authority wouldn’t allow us to GRP mould so close to the city centre, so we opened the Lee Mill moulding shop on an industrial estate on the outskirts.”
By now, Marine Projects were exporting to the Netherlands, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and even the South of France. David was in charge of customer handovers, fast becoming an impossible task as success and build numbers continued to increase. In 1970, the Princess moniker was created for the new Princess 32. Developed from the Project 31, it was specifically designed with production in mind and featured improvements such as a raised cockpit deck to allow the engines to fit beneath the floor rather than under the aft seat. A distributor network began to flourish to manage customer sales and service. The Project 31 continued in Series Two (shortened cabin) guise until the mid 1970s (recognisable by the small circular cabin window where the original has a trapezoidal window).
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Gerry Lapthorn, who has a history with Princess dating back 40 years, was tasked with finding a suitable candidate for ‘Project 31@50’. After looking at several possibilities, he discovered a 1968 example in Jersey. “What impressed me most was just how well it seemed to have stood up to its near 50 years. While there was obviously plenty to do, the hull looked sound and I couldn’t believe the condition of the deck. I expected far worse.” The asking price was £6,500 and a deal was struck to include delivery to the mainland. “The owner loaded it on to a trailer and shipped it to Southampton on the Condor ferry. We sent one of our trucks up, craned it on and brought it home.”
Home was Princess’s South Yard superyacht facility, where the boat was stripped back to a bare shell. “The aft bulkhead was pretty rotten on the corners and the timber cockpit floor had seen better days. We replaced both with resin-infused GRP panels, then set to work using CAD (computer-aided design) technology and CNC (computer numerical control) to fabricate new galley units and furniture. The entire wheelhouse sides and roof were replaced, and a new helm console was designed and then moulded from GRP to replace the old plywood one – Andy Lawrence, our head of design, penned the new one on a piece of paper. But with everything we did, we made sure to retained the proportions and concept of the original.”
Project 31@50 is all about authenticity. Some of the original Project 31 build crew from the 60s, long since retired, were brought in to oversee the recreation. Princess was taking its heritage seriously. The original Sestrel Moore compass was returned to Southampton to be refurbished by a man who had made the compasses originally.
The whole concept revolved around retaining originality, but giving it a modern twist – linking the origins of the company with its present-day technological and design tour de force
But the aim of the restoration was never to create a carbon copy of a production craft from the era, it was much cleverer than that. The whole concept revolved around retaining originality, but giving it a modern twist – linking the origins of the company with its present-day technological and design tour de force. Step forward director of creative design Sarah Verey, who was in charge of creating the look. “We wanted to create something with heritage but that looked to the future. The interior cabinetry uses sapele wood that mirrors the mahogany used initially, but we’ve utilised the high-gloss finish we use on our current superyachts.”
AN INSIDE JOB
It’s when you start to look closer that you gain a real sense of what Sarah’s achieved. “I wanted to tap into the vibe of the 1960s – Grace Kelly, Peter Sellers, Princess Margaret – it was a very glamorous era and we were careful not to lose the essence of the original. I wanted to capture the style and the joie de vivre of her time. It’s all in the details: the white of the exterior had to be precisely the right shade and we’ve teamed that with a beautiful aquamarine waterline. That aquamarine then flows through the inside, from the fluted centre of the helm seat to the leather accents of the interior locker catches.”
The longer you spend aboard, the more you notice. Sarah has used a bright red interior upholstery with the fluted form typical of the era. But it’s a modern high-quality weave from the designer brand Dedar that is used on some of the bigger Princess yachts. Look closely and you’ll spot dark blue piping to the seat bases that precisely matches the stitching in the diamond-quilted side panels of the forepeak. “We were overwhelmed by the way that our suppliers got behind this project” says Sarah. “Turnstyle Designs came up with the beautiful polished nickel door hardware with those aquamarine leather accents. Leeuwenburgh Fineer in Holland created one of my favourite aspects, the stunning hand-laid marquetry on the dining table, supported by its elegant single leg. Hermes supplied the leather for the ship’s wheel and Lang and Potter, who work on the upholstery of a lot of our boats, did the upholstery and soft panelling.”
Another supplier closely involved with the build was Volvo Penta, the Swedish manufacturer and its local agent, Marine Engineering Looe. Because exquisite though this craft is, it’s no show ornament. Beneath that extended aft seat lies a brand new Volvo Penta D3-170, supplied by the former and fitted by the latter. And heading out to sea is the only way to fully understand what has been achieved.
The view from the helm is pure nostalgia – wood-framed flatpane windscreens offering a panoramic view down that long flatcabin roof topped by varnished teak handrails and flag mast. Yet the steering is power assisted and the engine smooth and muted – it looks like a 60s boat but it sure doesn’t feel like one. Ten knots feels a very natural gait and about as much as you might expect from a 31ft boat propelled by a mere 170hp, but push the slightly incongruous electronic throttle control to the end stop and you’re in for a surprise. Light of weight, narrow of beam and flat of hull profile, the old girl picks up her skirts and lifts on to the plane, topping out at an impressive 16 knots! And there’s not a creak or a rattle.
There’s a lot of love surrounding this proud little ship, from the people that restored her, the companies that supported the restoration, and the general public. Charlotte has just come back from a boat show world tour that started in Cannes last year and then took in the London Boat Show before heading off for Dusseldorf, Hong Kong and Singapore. “Public reaction has been overwhelming,” says communication manager Claire Ashton. “She’s created massive interest and we’ve even had genuine offers to buy her. It’s a shame we can’t create a series production run of them.”
I ask David King how he felt upon first stepping aboard Project 31, 50 years after creating the very first one. “Emotional,” he smiles. “I normally only look ahead, but it’s wonderful to see such eclectic ideas blend together so well, and it really showcases the talent and imagination of our designers.” Given everything he now knows, what would he change? “I’d make her a foot wider and a foot longer, give her a deep-vee hull and fit a pair of D3-150 engines,” he muses.
Fifty years in, and the mind that created one of Europe’s largest boatbuilders, almost by accident, is still running at full tilt.