themarshall

[themarshall]

I am new to this forum and new to sailing. My wife and I are interested in getting into sailing, particularly a catamaran. We have been looking at numerous boats listed for sale over the internet. One in particular is a Prout 39' Escale. A question we have not been able to find an answer to is does the centre nacelle prevent, reduce, or otherwise, any under deck slapping? Does anyone have experience in sailing one of these cats? particularly one in the pre 2000 years?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, themarshall.

See ➥ http://www.vonwentzel.net/Prout/index.html

And ➥ http://www.google.com/cse?siteurl=ww...ale&gsc.page=1

[Eleven]

The centre nacelle does reduce the impact of slamming, but not all of the noise, but slamming is only a feature of working to windward or against swell and current.
Running on a broad reach it's rarely any issue at all.
The bigger Prouts, 37ft plus, are excellent boats, not the fastest but then you are cruising.
I've seen an old genuine UK built Prout 37 at under 100k recently. For a beginner I'd recommend you learn on something that won't depreciate so quickly for a few years.

[webejammin]

All crusing cats slam when going to weather get over it

[Southern Star]

Yes, in certain conditions all cats will slam when going to weather. However, that is not to say that all cats are the same - some will slam in conditions that others can deal with without slamming. Some will slap in minor chop even at anchor. Some, especially those with a blunt leading edge to the bridgedeck, can come to a virtual stop when going to weather in heavy conditions. The OP's concerns are legitimate.

Brad