Princess 18

[Andrew]

Here is a Princess 18 for sale near Maitland,

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/bolwarr ... 1290720586

The Princess 18 looks like a good design for Estuarine and lake gunkholing and drying out upright on the tidal flats, it only draws 8" boards up so would also launch and beach easily.

It's accommodation is voluminous with raised deck, mast support arch and twin galv centerplates well hidden into the bunk sides. (It won an Australian design award)

It was a close 2nd for me when i was buying my Investigator. I think it would be easier to tow long distances as its only 500kg displacement (vs 750 kg for I563) and sits lower on trailer so less windage. Allot of tinny type boat ramps would also be ok to use.

It's not a coastal mini-yacht like an I563, but would be good for sheltered waters.

[Andrew]

This is a compilation from all the sailing magazine reviewers back in the day

https://johncrawfordmarine.com.au/princess-18

The hull is based on a finn dinghy, very flat underbody. Sailing performance is good. On stability: There is 100kg of internal ballast, so it will pop back upright even after a knockdown with both centerplates retracted. Best of both worlds (big dinghy and small yacht). This self righting ability is also due to the raised deck cabin providing the needed buoyancy. With all the hatches on the centerline it would probably survive a knockdown without flooding with all hatches open as well. Very ingenious design and few if any others like it.

The only thing one reviewer didn't like was no anchor well up in the bow. It was designed as a beach-TS. so the crew walked the anchor ashore from the stern locker (for anchoring out an anchor box would be needed on deck or down the forehatch)

Link to my blog here too http://teria563.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-next-boat.html

The other main factor is it's towing weight, it is considerably lighter than an I563's so a smaller tow car car be used (eg 1300kg rated car)