Prout Quest 31 or 33

[Nick7]

Hi

I'm thinking about buying a Prout Quest for live aboard & a one-way trip to Australia via the Caribbean. It's hard to find info on the Prout and I hope someone here can answer a few questions.

1. What material is the hull constructed in, solid glassfiber, or with a foam core or with a balsa core? Especially below the waterline.

2. When is a Prout 31 or 33 considered to be overloaded? 800kg? 1500kg?

3. How safe is a Prout in terms of sinking, heard a Prout 33 have airtight flotation compartments, is this true also for Prout 31? Is it dependent on which year it's manufactured?

Best Regards

 

[Bajansailor]

Hello Nick,

There is a lot of useful info about Prout cats in general on Michael Briant's home page for the Prout Owners Association here - http://www.michaelbriant.com/prout_owners_association.htm

 

[Yacht Breeze]

Quest 31

Nick,

We owned a Prout Quest 31 for several years.

They are solid boats but getting a bit old now. We found that our Quest, like all cats, complained if loaded heavily. Cats are not good load carriers. As to how much weight you can pile on before she becomes sluggish I can't say, we never weighed the 'junk' we accumulated, but aim to keep weight to minimum. Our boat did not sail well until we emptied all the items we'd gathered and were very disciplined about what went back.

Ours developed osmosis - not structural but blighted opinions and reduced value. Moderate to high hull moisture readings should be treated as possible warning signs.

I am sure Quest 31's have crossed oceans and been around the globe but I have to say I'd be looking for a bigger boat (Snowgoose 37 perhaps) which gives more room, better load carrying and a bit safer and be more comfortable.

As mentioned the Prout Owners website has lots of owners and between them masses of experience.

Good luck.

 

[boatmike]

Nick,
They are monolithic (single skin) below waterline and sides. above the gunwales balsa core used extensively.
They are NOT unsinkable but cats don't have a big lump of iron or lead to take them to the bottom if holed so safer than a mono in that respect. There have been examples of boats with extensive damage below the WL staying afloat.
Load carrying is not good. The answer to your question is that no Prout is a greyhound but over a ton or so will slow them down noticably. I would say the 33 is far better than the 31 in all respects but if you can afford it the 37 Elite (mine now sold to a nice Frenchman last month) will be a far superior ocen passage maker and load bearing liveaboard. Anything else you need to know PM me.

 

[srm]

I bought a Quest 31 in 2003 for long term live aboard cruising, retiring in 2007. I replaced it in 2009 having failed to sail from Shetland to Norway. We turned back before the half way mark when the wind got up to NW F6 with 7 forecast ahead. Repeatedly sailing at 5 knots over two or three waves only to come to a full stop with the foredeck buried in the face of the next wave was both tiring and started to damage the boat.

My fault entirely, the poor boat was well overweight with cruising gear including sensible anchor and chain for its windage and a self steering gear. Turned around with the wind on the quarter and had a fantastic reach under jib with the Monitor self steering in control all the way back to Fair Isle. By way of comparison I used to make that trip regularly on a 42ft classic monohull sloop (with 30ft waterline) and have crossed in far worse conditions with only moderate discomfort.
Yes, the Quest 31 has tanks fore and aft in both hulls, but mine were not airtight so I filled them with empty sealed water bottles to provide light weight removable buoyancy.
I came across a web account of one Quest 31 that circumnavigated via the Red Sea.

I think the Quest would make a nice coastal cruiser provided its kept light, but once you start adding batteries, wind generator, radar, sensible cruising ground tackle and spares plus dinghy its easy to overload, even with only one person on board. A larger Prout (over 34 ft) would probably be a better bet to give the load carrying capacity.

I now have a heavy displacement monohull that sails at about the same speed as the Quest - if not faster to windward as there is less leeway, rolls uncomfortably down wind (the catamarans most comfortable course), but gets me to where I am going.

 

[rivonia]

Hi

I'm thinking about buying a Prout Quest for live aboard & a one-way trip to Australia via the Caribbean. It's hard to find info on the Prout and I hope someone here can answer a few questions.

1. What material is the hull constructed in, solid glassfiber, or with a foam core or with a balsa core? Especially below the waterline.

2. When is a Prout 31 or 33 considered to be overloaded? 800kg? 1500kg?

3. How safe is a Prout in terms of sinking, heard a Prout 33 have airtight flotation compartments, is this true also for Prout 31? Is it dependent on which year it's manufactured?

Best Regards

Have sent you a PM

Peter