Review of Princess 28

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.

The hull is a sandwich construction which improves the indoor climate. Especially when the water is colder than the air in the cabin, then the double hull insulates against cold water and reduce the condense water in the cabin. The core material in the sandwich construction is balsa.

The interior is like most other boats made of teak. Teak has the advantage of being naturally very oily and therefore water-repellent, which is suitable on boats.
The boat is equipped with 2 cabins, 5 berths, a galley, 100.0 liter fresh water capacity, toilet facility and 24.0 liter waste water capacity.

The Princess 28 is equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.

Fin keel

The Princess 28 is equipped with a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long keel.

The keel is made of lead. Compared with iron, lead has the advantage of being 44% heavier, which allows a smaller keel and hence less water resistance and higher speed.

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.49 - 1.59 meter (4.89 - 5.19 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

The Princess 28 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

Princess 28 may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar diesel engine

The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenance than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.

Alternative 2:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Bukh diesel engine at 9 hp (6 kW). The speed is 6.5 knots.

The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenance than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.

The fuel tank has a capacity of 40.0 liters (10 US gallons, 8 imperial gallons).

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Princess 28 is 1.76, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.3 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Princess 28 is about 119 kg/cm, alternatively 671 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 119 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 671 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Princess 28 is 27.1 - 27.9.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Princess 28 is 3.18.

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Princess 28 is 46%.

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Princess 28 is 312 which categorizes this boat among 'medium weight cruisers'.

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Princess 28 is 21

As balsa wood is used as sandwich core material special care must be taken in relation to work that require penetration of the sandwich construction in order to to prevent water to get in contact with the balsa wood. Otherwise the balsa wood will eventually rotten and be expensive/impossible to repair.

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 21m² (226 ft²).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.

Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what you have done.

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Princess 28 it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.