Considered Conservative
THE PRINCESS V48 SHOWS THAT SOME BUILDERS STILL THINK ABOUT CHANGE CAREFULLY. AND IT SEEMS TO HELP THEM GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.
TThe folks at Princess Yachts are a pretty conservative lot. Look at their boats over the past decade and you’ll see a consistency in both design and engineering that’s rare in the boat business. You won’t find this British builder making digressions into wild colors, radically shaped windows, or outrageous appendages, and the styling philosophy is such that this year’s boat isn’t rendered obsolete by that of next year. A tradition of obstinate conservatism makes the new V48 stand apart on two counts. One, its hull and deck are laminated using resin infusion. Now you’re probably saying, “So what? Other builders have been doing that for years.” True, and the reason that Princess is towards the back of this queue is that it insisted on fine-tuning its version of the process before phasing it in as models came up for redesign. The first boat to get the full treatment was the V78, which was introduced five years ago. Each year since, every new Princess has been resin-infused, so naturally when it was decided to finally end the run of the iconic V45 (which never came to the United States), its replacement, the V48, was designed and engineered from the keel up to be built using that process.
Most builders will tell you that resin infusion is great because it maintains strength and saves a lot of weight, and some even offer specific figures. Princess is cagier—or rather more conservative. I couldn’t get any of the engineers buzzing around the dock on test day to venture a guess at how much lighter this boat is than she would have been had she been laid up conventionally. In fact, they didn’t seem to really care. All they wanted to talk about was how the process makes for a much cleaner factory and a much more solid boat.
I can’t attest to the factory as my schedule didn’t allow for a tour, but I can tell you that this boat is as solid as a brick. Out in the 3- and 4-footers that roiled the waters beyond the old World War II torpedo barrier in Plymouth Harbor—Princess’s homeport—we repeatedly ran her up to full throttle (31.1 knots), and despite the jarring conditions, I heard not a creak or groan.
The sensation of a solid and secure ride was no doubt enhanced by the notably low sound levels— just 71 decibels at 3000 rpm (21.1 knots). Princess has a reputation for solid acoustical engineering, and its newest models set a new standard. Part of the reason why is no doubt the solidity that comes with resin infusion, but another part is because this builder traditionally invests heavily in materials and techniques—even when they aren’t visually apparent. One example: Both saddle fuel tanks are wrapped in foil-lined acoustical insulation to preclude resonance, which, if left unattended, will mi- Many marine manufacturers today incorporate soundand-vibration attenuation programs into the boats they build, installing, for example, engine-room firewalls that are super thick.