Another Season of Use and a Whole List of New Problems Surfaced
Well, considering our recent "unforgettable" experience with our Princess 55, we think it should come to no one's surprise if we tell you that new problems kept on surfacing during the second season. A detailed list of all these problems have been uploaded and kept up to date on a cloud server and access link shared with all technical and administrative contacts at Princess, hoping that they would soon take action.Unfortunately, not a word/email/phone call from Princess despite our numerous reminders and requests. Our best working theory is that, they might have ignored us on purpose in order for the Warranty period to lapse so as they would attempt to charge us for the repairs. But again, this is just our own opinion.
On the other hand, it is not clear as to when the Warranty period was supposed to start as it is now clear that discovered defects where way beyond warranty issues as we have been literally handed over an unfinished boat and left to deal with it.
Bottom line:
We paid ~2 Million EUR for a supposedly "new" boat and we seem to be left with a long and ever growing list of problems that needed to fixed.
Water Ingress from Galley
During our first trip of the season, we noticed water leaking from Galley cabinets and fridge area.We think that the ingress might be coming in from the flybridge, not sure from which exact point as there are several possibilities. Could be vent openings, drains, underneath teak surface, flybridge furniture fixings etc. The issue will have to be investigated.
Status: Pending since 12 May 2019
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| Water leak from Kitchen Overhead Cabinet |
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| As we opened the fridge, we noticed water leak from there as well. |
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| We wiped off the water from the parquet floor immediately to prevent damage to the floor. |
Cracked Main Engines Raw Water Intake Hoses
At the beginning of the season during one of our engine room checks, we noticed that Raw Water intake hoses for both main engines showed signs of cracks. The cracks were apparent on the rubber exterior surfaces. We are not sure about the condition of the inner section. Fortunately, these are not pressure bearing pipes. We know that all plumbing and electrical wiring pertinent to Main Engines are installed by Princess (who are also an authorized Volvo Maintenance Center) at the shipyard and commissioned by Volvo.We have immediately informed Princess about the cracks but as always, not heard back from them.
Status: Pending since 22 May 2019
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| Port engine raw water intake hose |
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| Starboard engine raw water intake hose. |
Sagging Bimini
This problem has been pending since May 2018 (Click Here for more info). Princess claimed that the flexible netting below the bimini was the problem, but in fact it had nothing to do with the issue. The netting's main purpose was to keep the bimini fabric together when retracting the bimini. The netting would obviously be unable to support the weight of pooling rain water.That being said, Princess insisted that the netting was the issue and they sent a new netting for us to fit. Unfortunately, it was not the correct one thus did not fit. We have requested the correct one, but it was never delivered. And because they removed the old netting, we had no choice but to make do with the incorrect version of it.
Status: Pending since 31 May 2018
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| Rain water pools on top of the Bimini and causes it to sag. |
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| The netting that was sent as replacement was seemingly manufactured for another type of Bimini. Therefore, the Velcro fasteners were displaced and did not match the strut positions of our Bimini. As we did not receive a replacement, we had to leave them as is for the season. |
Deformed Right Electric Window
During delivery, we noticed a vertical scratch on the right window and asked Princess to rectify the matter. At the beginning of the second season, Princess decided to take the matter at hand and sent a team to polish the window which made us wish we had not mentioned about this problem at the first place at all. The section polished was totally deformed and the view distorted through the window. It is unfortunately not so clearly visible from below pictures but there is a considerable distortion.Status: Pending since 10 June 2018
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| Section of the window with a vertical scratch. |
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| After polishing, the scratch is gone but the window is now deformed, distorting the view through. The picture above is unfortunately not a perfect depiction of the problem but it is still possible to see the "bent" railing of the neighbor's boat. This effect becomes more dramatic as the focusing distance is increased. |
Sagging Overhead Panel - VIP Cabin
What a great force to oppose: Gravity. Especially if stuff is not built properly to withstand it.After having to deal with the sagging overhead panel due to water ingress in the Guest Cabin, now we noticed that the VIP overhead panel was also sagging, therefore coming into contact with the door.
We are not sure what the cause of this sagging could be but we suspect that the overhead panel might not be properly fixed and since this is the very fore section of the boat, the higher G loads from slapping the waves might be a contributing factor.
Status: Pending since 22 May 2019
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| VIP Entrance door coming into contact with the sagging overhead panel. |
