Inside the May Princess

I dropped in on the May Princess on Friday and found Alex the skipper and owner down in the engine room. He asked me down to have a look and I had often wondered where they where and what it looked like. The engines lie under the rear open deck and are squeezed into a very low compartment. The heat was amazing down there, lucky they don't have stokers anymore. Instead the 2 engines run on diesel and the thing I like about them is that they are incredibly economical. This means that the May Princess even with her 100 passengers uses less fuel than the RIBs with their 12 passengers to get to the island, though it has to be said she takes twice as long. The hull is divided into a series of compartments with the front one having the toilets squeezed into. Though aren't as cramped as the the engine they are a challenge sometimes and a passenger on Saturday told me that they had had their " toughest toilet experience of her life" when using the facilities in a rough crossing! So if it looks a bit blowy go before you sail!