Allied Princess 36

discusses

"Seaquester is a 1972 Allied Princess 36 ketch. The hull was originally laid up in November of 1972... the Allieds were built in Catskill, New York, up on the Hudson River, and this boat is number eight of 140 Allied Princesses built."

repairs⚙ cabin sole

"Originally the Allied had a plywood cabin sole with a very thin layer of teak veneer... that got pretty ratty over the 40 years since the boat was built, and about ten years ago I ripped that out and built a completely new cabin sole out of cherry and white maple. This sole is not veneer, it's three-quarters of an inch thick, all laminated together and then varnished with eight coats of two-part urethane varnish."

discusses

Todd Dunn describes Seaquestor's bronze worm-gear steering as difficult to break. He says the wheel stays where it is set, but gives no feedback from water flowing over the rudder, unlike cable steering.

repairs⚙ fuel tank

Dunn says Seaquestor's original black iron fuel tank sat under the engine, with its top forming the bottom of the bilge, and had already been abandoned when he bought the boat in 1996. About eight years before this May 2022 tour, he removed it, reglassed and sealed the area, and filled the void with closed-cell urethane foam. He now uses a 12-gallon plastic tank in the aft lazarette.

repairs⚙ standing rigging

Dunn says the lower shrouds are the only standing rigging he has not replaced on Seaquestor. He replaced the cap stays and turnbuckles on both sides the year before this May 2022 tour.

warns⚙ engine

Dunn says he has done major service on Seaquestor's Westerbeke diesel. He reports some smoke when it first starts, which disappears once it is under load.

discusses

The owner, who has sailed his ketch for 27 years, gives the rig dimensions: deck-stepped masts, a main mast 40 feet long with the masthead about 46 feet off the water (about 48 feet of bridge clearance with antennas), a 135 percent genoa of roughly 300 to 335 square feet, a 250 square foot main and a 95 square foot mizzen, about 680 square feet in all. He says deck-stepped masts are a little heavier aloft and make the boat slightly more tender.

discusses

On handling: "because of the long keel the boat tracks quite well", but with the attached rudder it is not as responsive as a fin keel and spade rudder boat. When tacking he lets the jib fill and push the bow across before casting off the sheet, otherwise the boat can stall and end up in irons, and in heavy air he sometimes has to cast off the mizzen to get through the wind. "These boats don't tack fast, they don't turn fast."

discusses

The owner says the full keel's wetted surface makes the boat slow in light air, especially downwind. Hull speed on the 27-and-a-bit-foot waterline is about seven knots, which he reaches easily, with peaks of about 7.8. Weight runs between 14,500 and 15,500 pounds depending on vintage, and boats built after about 1978 are heavier because they carry an additional thousand pounds of ballast.

discusses

The owner says the boat is initially tender, heeling to about 15 degrees in around 10 knots before it firms up, and that he has had it over almost 40 degrees in big puffs. Because of the high freeboard at the bow it is dry, and in 27 years he has never put the rail down. He reefs the main between 12 and 15 knots and in short steep seas of four to five feet it pitches and almost stops.

warns⚙ engine⚙ steering

On maneuvering under power: in reverse "the boat pretty much goes where it wants not where you want", so backing into a slip is tricky and he wants someone on the finger pier to take lines. The original engine was a 27 horsepower diesel, which he calls a bit underpowered for the weight; he now runs a 46 horsepower engine and burns just under half a gallon an hour at about six knots.

discusses

The presenter describes the 1970s Princess 36 as a full-keel cruising boat with a ketch rig and a big, friendly interior for its era, aimed at couples. He calls it a small traveling house with sails and ballast rather than a fast boat, suited to the Chesapeake, Bahamas, Florida and the ICW.

discusses

Walkthrough of an Allied Princess 36 that a boat recycler is parting out because it has reached the end of its life. The presenter finds the layout very roomy and open for 36 ft and can stand fully upright in every section of the boat, including the V-berth. A rusty toolbox leads him to say the boat has been underwater or at least sunk on land.

discusses

Reading the numbers off sailboatdata, the presenters give 36 ft overall with no bowsprit, 27 ft on the waterline, "14,000lb displacement" and a maximum draft of 4 and a half feet. They say about 140 were built, and that the shallow draft is "a very nice Bahama boat".

discusses

Andy, who grew up aboard one, notes there is no wood on deck, "which is really surprising given the age of this boat", apart from what looks like a wooden cockpit coaming backrest, so it is "going to be very easy to maintain".

warns⚙ rig

Andy says living with the mizzen mast in the cockpit is "not the best" and that he remembers it "always in the way". Cruisers get lazy and often do not set the mizzen, he says, so small ketches tend to be annoying, though the three-sail rig looks good.

discusses

Andy points out the unusual hull-to-deck joint: an outward-facing flange that is bolted together and covered with heavy aluminum, so the joint doubles as a rub rail. He says it has aged well and that modern boats no longer have rub rails.

recommends

Andy sees this size and type of boat as a gap-year cruiser, "a very capable, stout, awesome little cruising boat for not a lot of money", and says the low price of the example in the listing reflects a lack of demand rather than poor condition.