Even the bathrooms feel special


Masses of light and space in the master


look there are clever touches that surprise and delight, features that you will take pleasure from for years to come. The dashboard is the perfect example. Below and to the left of the dial-free triple Raymarine touchscreens is a ‘glovebox’. Previously, this would have been a simple hinged fl ap. On the 62, it’s an integrated wooden box. The more you let your eyes and your fi ngers wander, the more you fi nd. Check out the hexagonal stitching in the lower section of the helm seat bolsters or the wood and perspex coffee table that looks straight out of a Chelsea boutique. Gone too is the Novasuede headlining that invited fi ngers but then marked the moment the grain was disturbed, replaced by a more practical textured fi nish – to the relief of Princess boat show salesmen everywhere. Slim fi llets of gloss perspex hide in the joins, adding further whimsical detail (once you realise that it isn’t just bad panel gaps). Settees are deep, comfortable and inviting with drawers that pull out from the base. The lower deck is entirely conventional.


Sticking with three cabins ensures that all luxuriate in the presence of a well- sized ensuite, and the full-beam master has a completely fl at fl oor. If you need more space, spec the crew cabin; it’s large and well appointed enough to make an occasional fourth. The heads in there even has a separate shower stall. And that neat


detailing continues, the ‘fl oating’ side table in the master cabin a dead ringer for the one fi rst seen in the Princess 30M.


MODERATE SEAS So it’s a big, very tall, very voluminous boat, then, which begs the obvious question – how does it handle? Normally this is where we take off for a blast round the bay in a quest to fi nd out, but not today – today’s test is a little more thorough. I’m joining this Princess 62 on a delivery trip from Plymouth to the Solent on its way to meet its public at the Southampton Boat Show, giving me 150 miles to really fi nd out what this boat is all about. The forecast is Force 4, occasionally


5, with a slight to moderate sea state. The World Meteorological Organisation and I have always laboured under a difference of opinion regarding what constitutes a ‘moderate sea’. They describe it as ‘wave height of 4ft 1in to 8ft 2in.’ Believe me, in a small boat, there’s nothing remotely ‘moderate’ about that! Today, however, I have two factors in my favour. A westerly wind direction means that it’s ‘downhill’ all the way. And instead of my usual 27ft and 3-tonne of open cockpit Jeanneau, I have 62ft and 30 tonnes of Princess, underpinned by a pair of 900hp Volvo Penta D13 engines swinging its propellers via conventional straight shafts. Moderate sea? Bring it on. As we power effortlessly


on to the plane, it’s fair to say I’m feeling quietly confi dent. A rate of 2,000rpm equates to a loping 24 knots, the Raymarine autopilot holding a steady course as 19kW of Onan generator spins £86,000-worth of Seakeeper NG9 gyro stabiliser up to 9,000rpm. It’s like fl ying Business Class on an Airbus A380 after years of piloting a Cessna Skyhawk. Making it doubly interesting is that initially, we’re cruising through my own stamping ground. Start Point in a Force 4 is always interesting – in the Princess 62, it’s not that we don’t need to slow down, it’s that we don’t even notice it. It’s not until we reach the Needles that


we encounter more troubling conditions. A 4-knot SOG defi cit against our speed through the water points to a serious amount of tide against us. With the wind astern, the result is big standing rollers. And it’s here that even the combined infl uence of Andy’s design genius and Seakeeper’s fi nest can no longer overrule the laws of physics. As we power into the confused water, the sheer height of the 62 creates some interesting angles of heel as we roll through the swells. Is it dangerous? Absolutely not, but it is a little disquieting, even though we suspect that all the current crop of tall, beamy 60-footers would have behaved in exactly the same way. Dropping off the plane restores order and soon we’re powering down the Solent to the Hamble.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9