The Snowgoose 37: an owner’s perspective
Thank you to Alan from SV Damn Kiwi for helping us out with this owner’s review of his lovely looking Prout 37 Snowgoose. This model was one of Prout Catamarans´ best selling boats. Follow them on Instagram at @sv.damnkiwi
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the boat.
Boat name says a lot Damn Kiwi. It’s always been on my bucket list to bring a boat up to Cat 1 NZ and take it offshore, I’ve done a few miles now but haven’t taken my own boat away so the challenge was there. Wanted to do it before getting too old and stuck on the treadmill
Why did you choose the Prout 37 Snowgoose?
Most of my sailing was on a mono but did a passage on a seawind1250 and spent a few weeks in Tonga just my wife and I, and the cat is such a good platform to live off in cruising mode it was hard to go back. Couldn’t afford to buy most every other cat on the market till we seen the snow goose and this one needed a LOT of work which was reflected in the price(just cost us 4 yrs of our lives that’s all)
When was she launched?
Don’t really know but are told 1985
What’s the best thing about her?
The fact she fits into a standard marina berth and with the twin screw you feel comfortable handling her in tight spaces
What would you change if anything?
Walk down transom and a little more headroom in the saloon
Is she easy to maintain?
With its flat keels and narrow beam it’s nice to haul or beach .Not much woodwork exterior either so yes
Is she easy to sail short-handed?
Everything back to the cockpit and with the small main yes easy
What’s she like in heavy weather / a blow / big seas
Had some reasonably rough stuff on both trips so far and she’s as good as any other 37 ft boat I’ve been on
How does she sail in light winds?
Haven’t really got the light air sails set up but seems to go alright
How does she sail close hauled?
Not to bad, about 30 deg apparent which is so so
Typically, what’s your average speed on passage?
About 6knts couldn’t quite crack the 200mile 24 hr but got close a few times
What’s she like under power? Speed, manouevrability?
We have twin 27 hp so if you’re hammer down she digs a hole and you’re good for about 7.5 or so but we usually cruise about 5.5-6 on one motor at about 2 litre per hour manoeuvrability with both motors is magic
Is she easy to dock, what’s the visibility like?
Good visibility and with the low freeboard I don’t think windage is such an issue either, twin screw helps heaps as well
What is she like on the hook?
We use a bridle and decent ground tackle and she sits nicely
Is she comfortable down below? Cabins/saloon/galley/heads
We’ve set her up for the two of us and we’re both quite tall and we spent six months living on her without a night off her with different guests at times and didn’t have any issues really, it’s not a large volume boat and it is only 37 ft so with that in mind she’s fan frigging tastic
Is she good for hosting guests?
We extended the coach roof to back aft of the main traveler to enclose the whole cockpit if we want and give us good shade and we’ve had a heap of people sitting around having a few. I’m hoping they had as much fun as we did having them on board
What kind of modifications have you done and why?
Stripped out a lot of interior wood and lining, basically to get to the structural stuff we needed to and once we’d finished we just painted it and left it much lighter weight wise and visually. Ran out of time to reinstall as well but probably wouldn’t put it back now anyway
Any plans for further customisation?
Need to do something with the rub strip join between deck and hull join which is leaking but not really any mods
If you were to swap her for another boat, what would that be? Or maybe you wouldn’t swap her?
Maybe a little bigger, step down transom bigger volume but with that comes a lot of cost so bang for our buck we probably won’t change her
Anything else you would add to help people thinking of buying a Prout 37?
I think they’re great value for money. If you keep in mind their size, which when you’re manoeuvring in a marina is one hell of an advantage, the miles they’ve done and easy of sailing. Sure the modern ones have heaps more volume and comfort, but it comes at a hell of a price, and do they look as good? Jury’s out on that, they are a pretty little boat😎👍