16000 Views! | General Update

We have noticed a considerable increase in page views over the past few weeks. Our investigation revealed that our blog has now become subject to tens of discussion board and blog posts including ybw.com, canalworld.net, yachtsandyachting.com, planetnautique.com, boatdesign.net, cruiserownersforum.com, yachtforums.com, fairlineownersclub.com, bassboatmagazine.com, multihulls4us.com, sail-world.com, messing-about.com, powerboat-world.com and many other boating related social platforms.

As a result, our blog has reached 16000 page views as of this morning.
Thanks a lot for your interest and support!

Anonymous Emails

We recently received two consecutive anonymous emails from a group of persons who claim to be "frustrated" ex-Princess engineers. Said messages included noteworthy documents, pictures and excerpts of communication threads.
Our legal advisors are currently examining the contents of these documents.
We'll keep you posted...

Not a single Word from Princess

Our sources indicate that, despite the fact that Princess Motor Yachts is fully aware of outstanding issues onboard their Princess 55, they have not taken any sort of action in order to address them.

A "Cracking" 1 Year Old Princess Superyacht?

During our research on the internet, we came across an interesting post describing a newly built 30m Princess Superyacht.

On her first season, apparently the captain noticed that the boat was cracking from various locations on the hull and superstructure and immediately ordered a survey. According to this survey report, the boat was a 1 year old 30m Princess with more than 60 cracks ranging from a couple of centimeters to more than a meter on some locations.
The owner hired a surveyor to investigate the cause of the cracks.

Below, quoting some parts and attaching some pictures from the very survey report that we bumped into during our research:

"The yacht was placed in a cradle on land in an indoor winter storage and was accessible and free to survey from all sides. The inspection was done visually and focused on anomalous cracks in the surface. Found cracks were marked and numbered and documented in the following report. Normal scratches, obviously caused by normal usage of the yacht were not considered nor documented."

"The concentration of hull cracks around 7m from the transom and 14m from the bow are close to the sling lifting positions. The sling lifting plan of the builder shipyard showed a forward double sling and an aft double sling position."

"Consequently the engine room and propulsion layout of ..... concentrate all the weight in the aft area of the hull. When placing the aft slings under the forward engine room bulkhead without any further sling support under the engine room during a lifting process, the aft part of the hull will bend down. It is to assume that the regular bending of the hull might be visible in form of cracks on a thick faired surface."

"According to the plan, the forward lifting point leaves around 14,5m of the forward hull unsupported. It is to assume that the location of the cracks in correspondence with the lifting slings and with the long unsupported forward hull stay in correlation."

"The inspection of the hull showed that the hull deck joint is covered with a stainless steel rub rail. Above the stainless steel rail various smaller horizontal cracks could be identified. These cracks were randomly spread over the whole yacht. On the inner side of the bulwark most of the cracks could be detected in the round edges of the freeing ports. Additional cracks could be found on all bulwark doors. Cracks on various places on the bulwark doors showed mostly that the door inlays to support the screws of the door hinges were damaged. Cracks were found around hinges and on some doors a visible damage on the surfaces could be made out that indicates that the inlays in the door is split or broken and pushed the laminate to the side. This might also occur when a wooden inlay is chosen, water comes through cracks and the wood expands. This might either be cause of a not proper installation or already a secondary damage."

"The general GRP material flexibility is interrupted in areas where parts are glued together. The horizontal cracks above the stainless steel rub rail show stress in the area of the hull-deck-connection. The gelcoat cracked around the stiff areas where flexibility exists. These cracks could have occurred when the boat bended or even already during the installation process of the deck on the hull when the deck was screwed down to the hull flange."

"Cracks on freeing ports in general can occur when stress and pressure is on the bulwark and both outer side and inner surface of the bulwark have movement in different direction. This could happen during the production process if the deck is not perfectly fitted on placed bulkheads or if the deck is forced down to the hull flange connection."

"Within the inspection of the superstructure various randomly located cracks were found. Especially on the starboard side two bigger cracks were detected with a parallel vertical direction in a distance of 40cm to each other which might be also caused by movement or bending of the superstructure."

"In the summary it can be said that hull, as well as deck and superstructure, are affected by cracks. The location and concentration of hull cracks close to prescribed sling positions in correspondence with the unsupported weight of the forward and aft section by lifting process suggest the assumption that the cracks were most probably caused through lifting processes since they exert most pressure and stress on the boat structure. The same applies to the cracks in the bulwark and the superstructure that showed in general various minor cracks. Regarding the cracks in the doors it can be assumed that the internal structure of the doors is not properly to support the hinges and the weight of the doors." 

"In order to avoid future cracks in the hull the thickness of the existing filler needs to be reduced which should be done by sandblasting the yacht to remove the existing filler. The hull laminate should be laid bare and in deep areas laminate should be added to make the hull surface smooth as possible. The hull needs to be re-faired with a strong filler with an internal stiffness and that is flexible enough to not break and strong enough to resist a bending of the yacht. The fairing process as such needs to be done the way that the existing filler is primarily sanded down to the highest lamination points instead of just adding new filler on top. Afterwards filler can be applied step by step to reach a smooth surface. Just adding filler is a common and easy method but not recommended. Cracks around the rub rail and on the bulwark surface should be treated the same way. Freeing ports need to be sanded completely down to the laminate and the cracks should be opened and then re-laminated. Additional layers of laminate in the freeing ports should avoid future cracks. The bulwark doors should be rebuilt completely. The focus should be to build the doors as light as possible. The inlays for the hinge fixation should be made of aluminum or stainless steel with an internal grid in order to support the weight of the doors on different points. The internal structure of the doors should carry the open/close mechanism. The outer GRP shell should function as shell only. The cracks on the superstructure need to be largely opened and afterwards supported by additional lamination. Furthermore the sling lifting plan should be revised and a focus should be on the internal weight distribution. The lifting plan needs to be redesigned according to the weight positions in connection with the inner structural elements such as transversal frames, longitudinal stringers and bulkheads. The focus of the works to be carried out should ensure that the bending of the boat is reduced during a lifting process by slings."

Scandal of luxury yachts built in the UK with illegitimate Burmese teak

8th January, 2018

LONDON: As the London Boat Show opens this week (10-14 January) the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) warned that two of the biggest exhibitors have been building yachts for the luxury market with illegitimate teak from Myanmar.

EIA research reveals that Burmese teak entering the supply chains of the UK’s two largest yacht builders, Sunseeker International and Princess Yachts International, was traded in breach of the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR).

The EUTR has been in force since 2013 to combat illegal logging and the associated trade in stolen timber.

Sunseeker and Princess Yachts are both exhibiting at the London Boat Show and were reported in 2017 as having forward order books jointly worth more than £1billion; an overwhelming majority of these vessels will have Burmese teak decks.

NHG Timber and Belgian firm Vandercasteele Hout Import are suppliers of Burmese teak to the Sunseeker and Princess Yachts supply chains. The companies Moody Decking and D.A. Watts & Sons use this teak to produce decks for Sunseeker and Princess Yachts.

UK authorities have confirmed that NHG Timber has been found in breach of the EUTR for the trading of Burmese teak, a decision meaning that all firms known to be placing Burmese teak on the UK market have now been found in breach.

This action was taken by the UK EUTR competent authority – Regulatory Delivery at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – following the submission of cases by EIA and prohibits any of the firms from placing further Burmese teak on the market until they can show compliance with the law. Vandercasteele has also been found to be trading in breach of the EUTR and subjected to similar enforcement in Belgium following the submission of a case by EIA.

In a statement, EIA said: “Both Sunseeker and Princess Yachts contract Moody Decking and D.A. Watts & Sons to provide teak decking for their yachts. It appears that teak on these yachts traded since the EUTR came into force has been traded illegitimately. While the EUTR doesn’t regulate Sunseeker and Princess Yachts, their demand for Burmese teak is helping to drive trade in the UK and their customers are unwittingly receiving non-compliant wood products.

“Myanmar has acknowledged that combatting illegal logging and the associated criminal trade is a priority in addressing corruption and lack of transparency, but the ongoing demand for Burmese teak by European shipyards such as Sunseeker and Princess Yachts undermines this.

“If the companies are unable to source legally traded Burmese teak, then they must make use of readily available legal alternatives.”

The EUTR only regulates the act of first placement of timber. Regulated timber companies providing teak to the Princess and Sunseeker yacht supply chains include:
-NHG Timber (UK)
-Vandercasteele Hout Import (Belgium)

Each of these companies has been found in breach of the EUTR.

Decking companies supplying to the Princess and Sunseeker yacht supply chains are:
-Moody Decking (UK)
-D.A. Watts & Sons (UK)

Source: Environmental Investigation Agency

3000 Page Views in 3 Weeks... Thank You!

3 weeks since we started this blog and we already reached 3000 page views from an audience in 17 countries! Hit rates are almost exponentially sloping up and we expect to reach 5000 views within less than two weeks.

Thanks a lot for your interest and support…

Princess owners are reaching out to us

We have been contacted by 2 Princess owners who relatively recently purchased their boats and stated that they had similar quality issues that they were having to deal with. We had a long chat with both of them. They proposed to share their own list of problems and pictures/videos for us to publish on our blog.

We'll keep you posted...

15 July 2018 - Why did we have to revoke Princess' access onboard?

Unfortunately, we have been obliged to deal with an ever growing defects list since the first day we set foot onboard our Princess 55. This is yesterday's news.
What is today's news is that Princess started to follow their own agenda, progressively ignoring our requests. Just check out the "List of issues" on our main page and their status to see what we mean. Just to be clear, we're updating all of these posts on an almost daily basis, so items highlighted in red are indeed still pending.

Traveling for business: Our boat left unattended

We had to leave our boat last week and gave advance notice to Princess about urgent problems (affecting the functionality of the boat) that needed to be fixed. We asked them to not handle some of the mainly cosmetic issues because they required dismantling, painting, grinding, sanding etc therefore were messy in nature. Because nobody from us will be onboard and we have previously witnessed how clean(!) and well organized(!) and systematic(!) and closely supervised(!) their technicians worked (Check out this post), we have decided to leave out these items to be fixed at a later date. We have specifically asked Princess to closely supervise all works and not to let junior technicians work onboard unattended.

Fix the easy stuff, procrastinate others

This should not come as a surprises as easy items are fixed in minutes and are each worth one tick on a checkbox, just like the complicated ones. So why not get the easy ones done first and give more time to ponder about the others?

Whilst this reasoning might make sense from a dealer's viewpoint, it certainly works the other way around from the owner's viewpoint. This is when we end up seeing scratches polished, seals replaced, rusty spots cleaned whilst the engine room and lazarette is baking from heat because extractors are down, aircon system is not cooling, bilge is flooding with fresh water. Not to mention the lifeline netting which is still not in place after 6+ months! (check out this post)

They love to work on unoccupied boats

Not because it restricts their access (this is the version you will usually hear from them), but more like it restricts their freedom.
When nobody's onboard, they could treat your boat the way it pleases them as opposed to the way it pleases you, they don't have to answer your questions, they don't have to deal with your rules, they don't have to show up at a certain day/time, and most importantly, nobody will be there to check if the problem indeed has been properly fixed or not.

Aircon system left on for the weekend... "To test"?

Let's first answer the question "How do we know?"
Last week before we left, we placed a few motion activated wireless security cameras onboard. These systems are quite popular and effective nowadays and besides their usefulness for security purposes, cameras come also handy in that it lets us keep an eye on who entered/exited our boat, and if pointed towards the main electrical panel, allows us to check the status of the boat systems, indicators, voltages, amps, switches etc.

Before leaving, we bluetaped breakers that needed to be left on at all times. A camera that was pointed in this direction also let us see voltages, amps, status indicators, breaker positions etc...

On Friday evening, as we were checking motion footage recorded by our cameras on our cloud account, we have seen that the air conditioning subcontractor came onboard in the afternoon to fix the problems that we have previously reported (poor cooling performance in Saloon, guest cabin aircon unit not working - Check out this post).
We noticed that the aircon subcontractor turned on all of the aircon units at around 15:05 to check their performance, make some measurements and finally left the boat at around 16:50 leaving ALL of the aircon units ON.
Two junior Princess technicians worked onboard until later the same evening and left at 20:52. We thought and hoped that they would take an extra minute to check all areas before leaving the boat and turn off aircon systems. Unfortunately did not happen. They just rushed out of the boat without checking or turning off anything at all.

Our messages were ignored

We immediately sent an email message to Princess service manager and to his assistant at 21:18 asking them to go back onboard and turn off all systems. To be honest, we were sure as hell that our email was going to be ignored, but still wanted to go on record with this one. After sending our notice, we arranged a personal contact to go onboard and turn off the aircon system. Since Princess had the keys to the boat and the main entrance door was locked, we have told our contact which breakers to flip off in the Engine Room AC panel. He went onboard towards midnight and turned off the system.
Princess never replied to our message and never took any action.
A well known cliché amongst service technicians for stuff they forget to switch off is "left on to test". If Princess decide to reply to our email, we are pretty sure that this would be their answer as they have nothing else to say.

What's the big deal if the Aircon is left on?

If the boat was attended, probably we would not care as much. But since the boat was going to be unattended during a full weekend (3 nights), anything could happen from flooding due to a cracked or damaged seawater pump pipe/hose to even a fire due to an electrical issue (especially considering the built quality of the boat!), which could very well have ruined other boats in the marina as well, particularly considering that our berth is only a few meters away from the fuel station!

If one assumes that in any case our boat insurance would cover all damages, he or she should think carefully. There is no way on earth that this clear act of negligence would be covered by insurance. 

Let alone the lack of professionalism and proper supervision, we found this to be a good example of a reckless human behavior too.

All show an no go?

When we have specifically asked for all works to be supervised by a qualified engineer (based on our previous experiences), we have been told by Princess service manager that the person who would  supervise the works was going to be on holiday. We then informed Princess that we would be happy to wait for him to come back and that we do not want any work to be performed without proper supervision. The answer was a mumbling "okay no problem" but we are now experienced enough to realize that at Princess, this tone could have a different meaning like "Don't hold your breath!"

Princess' access onboard has been revoked

Sadly, having witnessed this act of negligence and recklessness, we had no choice but to revoke access of Princess technicians and subcontractors onboard until one of us will be there to supervise them. Here is a copy of the email message that we have sent:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN 

It has come to our attention that on Friday 13.07.2018, Princess Motor Yacht Sales technicians and subcontractors attended M/Y.......... for repairs at .......... -without any supervision despite our previous notices- and knowing that the boat is/will be unoccupied for a period of time, left various ship systems -likely to fail and cause hazard if operated unattended- running as they left the boat for the weekend.

This negligent act jeopardized our boat's safety and put her and other neighboring boats under undue risk.

.......... sent an email message to Princess Motor Yacht Sales service supervisors/managers .......... and .......... same day at 21:18 asking them to rectify the situation immediately. Seemingly this message has been ignored. Not being able to reach PMYS technicians/supervisors in regards to this urgent matter, we had to use our own means to attend the boat at night-time and turn off above mentioned systems. 

In light of the above and considering various safety and liability issues as well as insurance risks involved, as of immediate effect, we are hereby asking you to halt all works onboard and refrain from accessing M/Y .......... 

We will be giving you advance notice when our crew is planned to be back onboard in order for you to arrange attendance to resume remaining repair works under proper supervision.
Kind regards,

Other email messages that we have never received replies to:

(1) To Service Manager 

In regards to the lazarette ventilation system you have indicated that a team from UK will be flown in to handle the issue. Our previous experience with junior technicians from UK were not so favorable in terms of their experience and orderliness which unfortunately resulted in other issues including new damages.
May I ask why a crew from UK will be flown in whereas .....'s experience and skill sets are more than adequate to handle this job?
. . . In the meantime, you may schedule repair works to start on 12th of July at 12:00. The boat will be accessible (you have the keys) but unattended until the 19th of July.

Please, proper protection to be put in place before any work is performed and all works to be supervised at all times by a qualified engineer.

(2) To Service Manager 

Please find updated pending items list attached.
My notes regarding schedule/timing on rightmost column.

(3) To Service Manager 

Just to remind you that the boat is accessible for repair works since yesterday (12.07).
....... had main entrance door keys.
Passerelle retracted but boat accessible from stbd.
Main panel switches to stay on at all times bluetaped (see attached).
Before leaving, I noticed that center bilges (companionway + master cabin) contained fresh water (around 30-40L - see attached). Emptied partly via bilge pump. Please have your techs check master cabin shower (possibly a leak from shower mixer or hose connections) and clean/dry all bilges.

(4) To Service Manager 

May I kindly ask you to call your tech team and have them go back onboard to turn off Master cabin aircon system (and check/turn off other cabin aircon systems) as they have no reason to run all weekend. Many thanks in advance.

16 July 2018 - Update

As we were thinking that Princess had to send some kind of reply to our revocation letter, their answer hit our inbox.
Here is what they wrote with our notes/comments in bold letters

Thank you for your e mail below the contents of which are noted, but we take the opportunity to correct some of your assertions in this e mail.
PMYS had express permission to attend the craft and perform unsupervised (Really? "Unsupervised?". See underlined section below) from 12th July at 12:00 - see the copy of e mail below:

From: ..... (Owner's rep)
Sent: 09 July 2018 10:37
To: .... (Service Manager)
Subject: Re: ..... (Boat name)

Good morning ...,
Many thanks for this.
Just to let you know that I am only authorized to comment in regards to contents relating to technical aspects and availability of the boat. Your worksheet contains other information (ie in header) subject to ongoing discussion/disagreement. (At every opportunity, Princess is trying to insert wording in their communication to imply our acceptance of the boat. Each time we have to answer with a disclaimer) 

In regards to the lazarette ventilation system you have indicated that a team from UK will be flown in to handle the issue. Our previous experience with junior technicians from UK were not so favorable in terms of their experience and orderliness which unfortunately resulted in other issues including new damages.
May I ask why a crew from UK will be flown in whereas ......'s experience and skill sets are more than adequate to handle this job? (Never received an answer to this but the reason is most probably cost: Junior technician flying in from Plymouth is on Princess payroll, whereas local high skill engineer works on freelance basis)

. . . In the meantime, you may schedule repair works to start on 12th of July at 12:00. The boat will be accessible (you have the keys) but unattended until the 19th of July.

Please, proper protection to be put in place before any work is performed and all works to be supervised at all times by a qualified engineer. (Notice this underlined phrase where we specifically used the word "supervised". Interesting to see that Princess read it as "unsupervised"!)

The air conditioning was being repaired on Friday 13th July and was expressly left on by the Dometic dealer’s engineer in order to test the system. (There it is, just as we have guessed...)

This is not a negligent act as you allege because air conditioning systems are designed to run day and night for the passengers’ comfort. (OK. But where were the passengers seeking comfort? What is it that the dealer was checking by leaving the system on for 3 consecutive days and nights? In an unattended boat, who would have known/observed if the system did or did not function properly? And most importantly, who would have intervened in case of a problem?)

There was certainly no danger to the craft or anyone else.

It is again incorrect to suggest we ignored the message sent by ...... The message was sent to ...... (Our contact, who tried to reach Princess technicians to get hold of the door keys in order to access the boat. But as nobody answered his calls or replied to our emails, we told him to switch off the aircon breakers from the engine room) at 21.10 who attended the craft and switched off the air conditioning at 22.15pm. 

Therefore you are mistaken in this regard. (As usual!)

10 Jul 2018 - Bilge Flooded with Water

I usually check bilge compartments regularly, at least once a week. During one of my checks, when I lifted the center bilge cover in companionway hall, I noticed quite a bit of water. Tasted, not salty.

Next step was to check other aft bilge areas, all of which were flooded at even higher levels. Surprisingly no alarms or signs of supposedly "automatic" bilge pumps having kicked in to pump out water. Immediately started to investigate the source of the leak.

Took quite some time but I finally found out that the source is most probably the shower mixer or hose fitting behind shower wall in Master bathroom. When the mixer is open, part of the water is leaking to bilge area behind the shower wall. I could not see where the leak was exactly originating from but my best guess would be loose water connection fittings. Princess has been informed about the issue. 

Fingers crossed, let's see how long this one will take to fix!
Status: Pending since 10Jul18

Companionway bilge, closer to bow section of the hull. Bilge pump and float switch could be seen on the right side.

Master cabin bilge area

Bilge area forward of Master cabin

Selling a Warranty Liability for Extra Profits?

Boatyards and dealers are obviously in business to make money and they come up with creative ideas to maximize their profits.

Think of a large scale production boat builder like Princess. They produce give or take 300 boats per year, 100 of which are sold through Princess Motor Yacht Sales, their main dealer in UK.
How about a special arrangement where the warranty liability of the shipyard is transferred (or rather sold) to the dealer in return for extra discount?
Seems like a win-win situation...
The shipyard is relieved from the hassle of dealing with warranty issues, and dealer gets to increase its profits. A much more relaxed quality policy could then be adopted by the yard, further reducing costs. What the dealer needs to do is build a service team, a local company to put them on its payroll, and a portfolio of pushover clients who will be ready to accept that production defects and quality issues in their boats will be handled under warranty.

Before we decided to purchase the boat, the sales pitch also included a description about how their technical service in the Mediterranean were the best, and that alone in the Balearics, Princess had 60+ engineers and technicians in their payroll. They even set up a new company in Malaga for this purpose (Princess International Yacht Sales and Service SL - CIF B-92192954)

Now let's have a look at a few conditions set out by Princess Motor Yacht Sales in their standard sales agreement:

This clause states that the warranty period is 12 months, that all defects shall be reported to Princess in writing within 14 days from the defect is or should have been (?) discovered.
Then this begs the question "if Princess denies to fix an item claiming that it should have been discovered earlier, who will decide whether it should really have been discovered earlier or not?". Most probably the courts or arbitrators, that is depending on your chances (especially as a non-English Party in an English court) to win the argument - after paying a fortune to your lawyers.
In the meantime, either you will have to live with the problem(s) or have it repaired at your own cost.

Let's assume that Princess agrees to fix defects, which actually took more than 2 months in our case ruining half of our season. Here is a clause foreseen by Princess for such conditions:

This is how we read this clause: "It is quite possible that you might have paid millions for a piece of junk. We'll fix it around our schedule and make it look like we do it around yours. You can go home or do whatever you want in the meantime but we won't pay for any of your expenses, however our apologies are free of charge. In any case, you may not be able to use the boat for weeks or months or maybe (in extreme conditions) even not at all during this season. We don't give two *hits if this causes any financial loss or inconvenience to you. And when it's time to sell your boat, you will have to shoulder the loss of value because the buyer's surveyor will have spotted our repair works.

Go in as a pig, come out as a sausage 

Production boatyards are businesses driven by money. Whatever they say, they do not care how you feel about their product. They sell their boats to make money and they fix it because they are worried about hindering their reputation and also concerned about possible legal issues, which all comes to even worse publicity.
You may opt to lawyer up and slug it out behind closed doors. No legal system in the world could guarantee that the righteous party will prevail and win. However, any and all legal systems in the world guarantee 3 facts:

1. No matter the outcome, each party will make their lawyers' day
2. You will get so tired and pissed off that you will regret recurring to legal action
3. At the end, no one -except your friends and family- will be aware about the living hell that you have gone through during the process. The injustice will go on and on.

Quoting Ambrose Bierce:
"Lawsuit: A machine which you go into as a pig, and come out of as a sausage"

Share Your Experience and Raise Awareness!

There are tens of platforms out there where hotels, restaurants, movies, books, businesses, products etc. are all reviewed nowadays. We all are so used to checking reviews before making a decision. People who made use of the product or service freely write what they think about their experiences, and we take advantage of this precedent to decide.

Why not also share your experiences with expensive purchases like boats and let other potential buyers become aware? It costs nothing, except your time to edit a blog, but in return you get to raise public awareness and maybe prevent other boat buyers from going through the same painful and expensive process.
Your experience with a new boat purchase could be pleasant or otherwise, just set up a blog and let google do the rest!

Quoting George Washington:
"Your opinion, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence"

04 July 2018 - Volvo Penta EVC System Error

Just as we were getting ready to throw a party just because our main engines and generator did not cause any trouble up until now (knock on wood!), the wind has been taken out of our sails with a recent error message/alarm on our Volvo EVC system.

Error message on Garmin/Volvo screen when controls were taken from aft station.

Received this message when I took controls from the aft station during docking. The station did not work or react so I rushed back to main helm station and tried to take controls from there. Very luckily it worked and we were able to keep the boat under control and dock safely. Phew!
Princess has been informed about the issue.
Status: Pending since 04Jul18

03 July 2018 - Engine Room Extractor Failed

Our second longer distance journey (45nm), cruising comfortably at 10.5kt / 1300 rpm. We noticed that the engine room temperature quickly reached 53 degrees C. It was a hot day (ie 29C outside air temp) indeed but still quite unusual for such a spike. Immediately went into the engine room and noticed that stbd side extractor fan was not working. Checked the breakers, timers, relays etc, all OK. We kept going keeping a close eye on the thermometer. Then we realized that after an hour or so, the extractor started working for another 10-15 minutes and then stopped again for an hour or so. This repeated until we reached our destination.
After a short investigation, we realized that the extractor was shutting down to protect its motor against overheating. Why stbd side extractor? Probably because during our passage we had winds from port side causing that side of the engine room to be cooler therefore not causing the port side extractor to "overheat"(?)
We found this issue quite ironic in a way as we believe extractors are there to cool down the engine room, however they needed to be cooled down in the first place!
Again, seems like another typical issue with northern designers. Somehow they do not realize how hot the Med could get in summer. The tiny extractors fitted in an engine room equipped with 1600hp diesel engines confirms our theory.
Status: Pending since 03Jul18

Screenshot from our wireless thermometer readings.
Outside Air Temp: 29C, Lazarette Temp: 36C, Engine Room Temp: approaching 53C. 

An hour later, Lazarette temp came close to 40C. Interesting is that all equipment installed in Lazarette was switched off (Generator, Inverters, Chargers) and the cooling fan was on. Yet the area reached 40C. Just wondering what would have happened if we happened to run the generator and chargers!

Above video shot underway, right after we noticed the spike on the engine room temperature. Stbd side extractor's blades are not moving.

Notice the plastic net fitted on both extractor intakes. Originally, they were fitted with highly restrictive stainless steel grill covers which blocked most of the aperture and caused a huge efficiency loss during extraction. We replaced them with a net to increase their efficiency. 

29 June 2018 - Saloon Aircon Not Cooling

A couple of weeks ago, we have noticed that one of the Saloon aircon units were underperforming. We have informed Princess and requested the aircon supplier to visit onboard to check the system before air and seawater temp start to get warm. Our request has been ignored without any diagnosis with comments like doors and windows must be fully closed, the system must be allowed to cool the area etc.
Recently we have noticed that the unit's performance has further deteriorated. A quick measurement on the outlet ducts of both units revealed the difference. Princess has been reminded again about the issue.
Status: Pending since 12Jun18

Saloon port side aircon unit temperature reading from outlet duct (after 20 minutes of runtime - 12.4C ).
Ambient temperature 26.3C

Saloon Starboard side aircon unit temperature reading from outlet duct (after 20 minutes of runtime, measured  at the same time as the other unit - 8.8C). Ambient temperature 26.3C

Guest cabin aircon not working

The guest cabin aircon system previously had issues (check this post). It took Princess 47 days to fix the issue which unfortunately resurfaced recently. When we tried to turn on the aircon system of the guest cabin, we noticed that it displayed again the same "LP - Low Pressure" message.
Status: Pending since 12Jun18

Guest cabin aircon system. LP error displayed when turned on.

27 June 2018 - Watermaker Fault: BPR Jammed

When we tried to start the watermaker, we received an error message displaying "BPR drive current exceeded. BPR jammed". Princess has been informed about the issue.
Status: Pending since 27Jun18

Error message displayed on control screen when we tried to start the watermaker.

Update 29Jun18:

A Parker technician attended the boat to fix the valve jamming issue but could not diagnose the reason of the problem. He advised that they need to consult with the factory and get back to us in due course. The fault is still preventing the watermaker from starting up. 

Motorized valve regulating membrane pressure. The system needs to reset the valve during startup but for some reason the valve gets jammed.  Metal particles around the mechanism have been found.

22 June 2018 - Awning Poles Coming Loose

Approximately 3 weeks into the boat's first season and one of the foredeck awning poles (starboard side aft) base already came loose.
We have quickly checked the other ones and noticed that their bases have started to move as well.
Status: Pending since 20Jun18

Awning pole coming loose from its base (Starboard side aft pole shown in picture)

19 June 2018 - Grey Water Tank Faulty Float Switch

The Boat is equipped with a 10L grey water sump tank where all sink, shower, and fancoil drains are collected and pumped out via a bilge pump activated by a float switch. The float switch failed in its third week of use (quite unusual) causing the bilge pump to get stuck whilst on. We have realized that the pump was running continuously thanks to the LED indicator on the main panel and switched off its breaker and cleaned the float switch multiple times with no avail. We left the pump off and refrained from using bathrooms. Then we immediately informed Princess about the issue and asked for their urgent attendance to solve the issue. Considering the urgency of the matter, they organized attendance within 2 days.

Status: Fixed in 3 days

Grey water sump tank is located in Master cabin bilge area 

Float switch (left side) normally is supposed to activate the bilge pump only when water level rises in the tank. However it got stuck and the bilge pump had to run dry for a couple of hours. Notice residues around pump casing. The pump was very hot when we realized about the issue but thankfully did not fail.