Prout Snowgoose 37 comments

[Warren Drifter]

Originally Posted by carraigdog

Would I be right to assume that apart from the extra 1 meter per week for marina fees, the running costs would be near enough the same for both the 34 and 37 Elite ?

I think you could say the running costs would be the same and only a bit more marina cost for the extra length. But I should warn you that a lot of marinas want to charge 120% or even 150% of an equivalent monohull length when they hear the word - 'catamaran'. A 37' Prout is 16.25 (4.95m) feet wide and I have often got away with the argument that I was not taking up the space for more than one boat as a monohull can easily berth beside me (and sometimes was lucky). Sometimes a common sense marina will charge only monohull price until the marina gets full.

And due to the narrower beam, most travel hoists, even some of the smaller ones can lift a Prout out with two straps down and under the same as a monohull whereas many other designs need an H-frame or a slipway. Prouts' narrow beam enabled them to travel down the French canals and some of the earlier Prouts had tabernacles. Being built in England where many boats anchor and dry-out between tides, Prout designed min-keels that allowed one to safely set down on bottom. I use beaches and sometimes a boat ramp to set down on to clean or touch up the bottom paint.

[Warren Drifter]

Originally Posted by FSmith

Is there a way to identify an owner finished vs factory finished prouts?

I am not sure how to tell the older Prout shipyard history. The original owners could tell you. If an Elite, I could tell pretty much immediately because of my familiarity of the one I own. Mine was number 392 and almost everything I take up or open has the number 392 written on it meaning it was being built in a shop somewhere away from the boat, i.e. the saloon table, interior lids over storage, heads cubicle, even the original sails. Prout also had a furniture business so workers who built furniture were also assigned to doing the insides of boats. The quality of the wood used in my boat is pretty good. I took up some sheets of ply under the forward bed that had an Israeli plywood mill decal with Lloyd's of London approval.

[mikedefieslife]

There are a ton of Prouts here (Greece). If memory serves me correctly I recall something about 2000 being made in the history of the company. There's one in the boat yard I'm in now. At least two I've seen in a boat yard down the road. One in the marina next town over, and one for sale in the next town past that. All 37' - In fact there are probably enough Prouts to have a Prout ARC-type rally or round the world race. lol.

They are still very popular boats, but the design concept is outdated at best, and I find that compared to other catamarans of the era, they waste a lot of useful internal space. I don't think I'd buy a 35 if was do it again. A 37 maybe, head height in the aft cabins makes all the difference, but an Escale is probably much better, and more modern too. Though for not much more you could have a Boradblue, Dean, or FP.

Never knew Prout had a furniture business. The quality of the wood in my boat is poor, and of all those I've viewed.

[Warren Drifter]

I wish to share this archived article about Prout history:

Francis Prout dies - Yachting Monthly

The last 3 numbers of your boat's Hull Identification Number should be the assembly line number. I heard they built over 400 of the 37 foot length.

[mikedefieslife]

Good stuff.

A lot of Prouts don't have a plate or hull identification number. And I've also heard that those in the US were different to those in the UK. i.e the numbers weren't necessarily sequential

[magentawave]

Hope it's okay to resurrect this thread because I have a couple questions about the Prout Snowgoose, please...

1) Can a Snowgoose 35 or 37 sail with the main only? If so, can you tack with the main up only?

2) Does anyone know if a Prout Snowgoose 35 can go to windward as well as lets say a Searunner 34? (Searunners have centerboards.)

Thanks

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by magentawave

Hope it's okay to resurrect this thread because I have a couple questions about the Prout Snowgoose, please...

1) Can a Snowgoose 35 or 37 sail with the main only? If so, can you tack with the main up only?

2) Does anyone know if a Prout Snowgoose 35 can go to windward as well as lets say a Searunner 34? (Searunners have centerboards.)

Thanks

1) No chance of sailing with main only on a 35 at least not above a few knots. It's less than 15m2. It really is tiny like a mizzen sail. Now genoa only is a whole different ball game. Or perhaps main and stay sail.

2) I doubt it, nor that you want to do unless you like having the fillings rattled/bashed out of you in choppy in seas.
2) Surely no cat without boards is ever to

[atoll]

i think the ditto goes like this....."If the wind don't blow there,don't go there!"

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

1) No chance of sailing with main only on a 35 at least not above a few knots. It's less than 15m2. It really is tiny like a mizzen sail. Now genoa only is a whole different ball game. Or perhaps main and stay sail.

2) I doubt it, nor that you want to do unless you like having the fillings rattled/bashed out of you in choppy in seas.
2) Surely no cat without boards is ever to

Not sure what happened here. My post got cut off.

I was trying to say that surely no cat without boards is ever going to sail as close as one with boards. There will be leeway.

The 37 and onwards in the Prout range have the genoa tracks along the cockpit. The 35 has them up on the coachroof. These are much more in board, and ahead of the mast. That setup should mean you can get a pretty flat sail, and a barber hauler will work better. Of course on the 37 you could just furl a tiny bit of sail to allow you enough room to use a barber hauler.

[magentawave]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

1) No chance of sailing with main only on a 35 at least not above a few knots. It's less than 15m2. It really is tiny like a mizzen sail. Now genoa only is a whole different ball game. Or perhaps main and stay sail.

I wouldn't expect much with that tiny main, and my experience on a couple boats with masts set aft was that they were unsailable on main alone. However, every boat is different, and you did say: "at least not above a few knots." So, I'm curious if the 35 can be sailed on the main alone (a couple knots is okay) - and will she tack on main alone?

[Snowgoose35]

I sailed a 35 all the way up Chichester harbour and Ichenor reach (lots of changes of direction and gybes ) under main alone at about 3 knots so in flat waters and the right wind you will move but not fast and I'd guess not much at all in any sort of seas ahead the beam

[magentawave]

Originally Posted by Snowgoose35

I sailed a 35 all the way up Chichester harbour and Ichenor reach (lots of changes of direction and gybes ) under main alone at about 3 knots so in flat waters and the right wind you will move but not fast and I'd guess not much at all in any sort of seas ahead the beam

Okay, that's good to know. Thank you. It's quite surprising that you were able to tack with just the main up.

[Cloroxbottle]

I've read in several places online that the "early" Snowgoose 37 hulls were solid fiberglass while the "later" ones were cored above the waterline.

But I can't find exactly in which year or at what hull number that transition was done.

Does anyone happen to know that?

[geoffr]

Our 1983 Prout Snowgoose has solid glass Hulls, the decks are cored.

[Cloroxbottle]

Thanks for the response. Any idea if a 1998 would have cored hulls? What about a 1986?
As the end of the production run was 2002, I'm guessing that a 1998 wouldn't qualify as "early" but have no way to make sure.

EDIT: Found an answer here...

https://www.catamaransite.com/brand/...owgoose-elite/

Apparently 1986 was the start of the production run of the Snowgoose Elite, which was produced till the bankruptcy of Prout in 2002 when production was stopped.

All Elites have cored hulls (above the waterline).

So my guess is that the "early" boats being solid glass refers to their predecessor Snowgoose boats built from 1979-1985.