Helm position is excellent. The switches for the nav lights etc are a bit prone to being caught accidentally as we discovered on a night crossing to Cowes when someone turned them off by mistake! Bowthruster works well, electric cut offs are easily accessible and the remote gas isolator is a nice little touch. If we all had princess and fair lines the places would be so boring, abroad it's a different matter , you see some stunning craft out there, shame some of it never hits our shores. the trouble with boats is that they are half sea going boat and half caravan/country cottage. You are in a lovely position buying new - but although the fairline and sealine interiors are new/fashionable etc when you go travelling its the boats ability that you will remember - especially if the wind changes and it gets a bit rougher than you might have liked. So yes, very pleased so far. The boat fared very well in the comparison MBY (or was it MBM) did with other boats a similar size (it came out the winner!) and that was our impression from looking around. There don`t seem to be that many on the second hand market which probably means they`re sought after (ours was the 200th one built I think so there are a few of them out there). As the F42 is now two years old I wondered if owners could give an unbiased opinion and perhaps Fairline and Princess owners could give us some constructive advice. Apologies to Princess and Fairline owners if our assessments have caused offence!

On the machinery side which is my living I'd get quotes on running costs, an I p s boat servicing charges will make your eyes water, straight conventional shafts make more sense if you don't want to be paying silly money every year to me or the dealers. I also looked at the Phantom 40, the boys at Essex boat yards showed me round a couple. I struggled with the Phantom 40, possibly because we had the Phantom 42. The 40 was just a bit smaller in every respect than our older 42 and I just couldn`t bring myself to pay more money for less. You`d keep bumping into things as you walked round the boat, I knew where to put my arms and legs but unfortunately the boat had moved! (in comparison to the 42).As for a dated interior, well it works very well. The spaces are all perfect and make best use of what's available. There is a risk that what seems contemporary today is seen as a fashion disaster in a few years. The Princess although looking a bit dated as said before does everything well, they are well made and should keep their value better. I`d go along with that. The Fairline Phantom 40 flybridge seems to have a bit more going on up there than the Princess 42. The Fairline we looked at had a griddle and I think a fridge from memory. In the end we were more interested in the accommodation downstairs than the flybridge, (let`s face it our weather throughout the year does mean we spend more time inside). I was also a bit unsure of how fat spitting off the griddle would add to the mix. I was a Fairline man through & through but they just didn`t cut it for me looking at what was on offer today. The Phantom 48 blew me away at Southampton in 2006 but it was a lot of money and to be honest the new Princess 50 will probably be my first port of call when I come into a few quid. If I was you I`d hold out for a Princess 42, I really think you`d appreciate it in the long term. Don`t get me wrong, a Phantom 40 isn`t a bad boat, it just wasn`t as good.

I also felt there was a bit too much vinyl and a bit too little wood inside for it to feel a quality item. Little things like a rather cramped entry into the engine room via a shared lazarette / engine room hatch rather than the Princess` separate engine and lazarette hatches sort of sum things up. Fairline - liked the contemporary look but felt that all interior finishes were of inferior quality. Not so keen on overall look of boat. Therefore, for a full in-depth review, please see my review of this slightly larger Mountfield on the link below. The Princess Motor Yacht Sales concierge service is the perfect example of the company’s commitment to the ultimate in customer care. Each customer gets a dedicated agent who knows the customer and knows the boat. Simon’s concierge is Richard Baker.I've owned several used boats including examples of all the brands you mention although not the exact models. First, you have to distinguish between finish and build quality. I would say that Fairline and to a lesser extent, Princess boats are finished better than Sealines but thats not the same as saying they're built better. In my limited experience and FWIW, bits fall off or break on all the brands you're looking at so I wouldn't rule out the Sealine on that count. Sealine do use a different method for constructing their hulls to the other 2, in that they use a spray lay up rather than a hand lay up. There are arguments in favour of both but in the end, its always down to how conscientious the blokes are who are building the boats. Note that spray lay up is used extensively in the US so it's not as if Sealine is using a unique build method. Yes, I can understand why you would think the Sealine better because, generally speaking, they're better than the others at maximising accommodation space in the same hull length and thats always been one of their strengths. In addition, on the F42, they are using the IPS drive system which has the advantage of releasing more space for accommodation than the shaftdrive used on the other 2.

The spacious flybridge includes a comfortable entertaining area with ample seating around a table, double helm seat and separate sun-bed aft. Master cabin forward with double berth with ample storage and en-suite heads compartment with large shower stall, vacuflush heads and wash basin. Fairline boats historically have always been very good boats and well screwed together, but the new 42 is quite wide and may not be as good as other fairlines. (short wide boats are not as good in waves as slim ones, a foot or two can make quite a difference)

Mark Haley

Superlative build quality, great sea-keeping and spacious accommodation on board all go to make her very much sought-after on the pre-owned market. The Princess doesn`t try to re-invent the wheel, it just tweaks the design a little so that it does every very well. All the bits are in the right places, the quality of engineering installation behind the scenes seems up to scratch (you only really find out stuff like that when you own the boat yourself and can crawl over it a bit).

Sorry if this has been covered in previous threads. I did do a search and came up with only one similar question but it didn't particularly answer my concerns. The recently serviced Volvo Penta D6-370 diesels have covered just 374 hours use ( July 2022 ) and have the reassurance and economy of a shaft drive set up. The Princess 42 Li is an impressive hand-propelled battery-powered mower with every feature you need to produce a perfect lawn finish. The Mountfield Princess 42 Li is an electric cordless lawn mower weighing just 15kg and is powered by a single 4.0Ah STIGA battery. It has a 42cm cutting blade, a 50 litre grass collection bag and is designed for medium lawns up to 400m². There are 6 cutting heights available that range from 25mm to 75mm and the mower comes with a two year manufacturer’s warranty that includes the batteries.

Product details and specs

Not really that much to report in terms of annoying bits, we`ve used it a bit with trips to Weymouth, the Isle of Wight & so on (based in Portsmouth) in a variety of conditions. The hull is a bit noisier than the Fairline - possibly a slightly lighter lay up ? but certainly the boat doesn`t feel "cheap" and the interior was vastly better than that of the Fairlines we considered (it was a hard jump to Princess having owned 2 Fairlines). We bought a Princess 42 new in 2007 and were delighted with it. We sold it easily recently for good money so clearly we are not the only people who liked the model!