Review of Princess 385

Basic specs.

The Princess 385 is a large motorboat designed in the mid eighties.

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Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

Keel

Unknown keel type

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.10 - 1.20 meter (3.61 - 3.91 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

The Princess 385 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

The boat may be equipped with dual inboard Volvo Penta TAMD 61 diesel engines at 306 hp (227 kW).

Alternative 2:

Princess 385 may be equipped with dual inboard Volvo Penta TAMD 60C diesel engines at 255 hp (189 kW). Max speed is 27.0 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.

Alternative 3:

The boat may be equipped with dual inboard Volvo Penta TAMD 41 diesel engines at 200 hp (149 kW).

Alternative 4:

The boat may be equipped with dual inboard Cummins 6BTA diesel engines at 250 hp (186 kW).

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Princess 385 is about 321 kg/cm, alternatively 1797 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 321 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1797 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Princess 385 is 2.98.

Compared with other similar motor boats it is more spacy than 73% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

Curiosities

Powerboat?

In Denmark, you are required to have achieved a 'powerboat driving license' in order to sail a powerboat.
In this context a boat is considered a powerboat if:

Danish definition of a powerboat

According to this definition this boat is categorized as a Powerboat.

Maintenance

Boat owner's ideas

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.

Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Princess 385 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.

References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.