April 15, 1999--when so many were struggling with their tax returns--I had
the privilege of taking what I consider a well-designed catamaran on sea
trials. It was the Prout Quasar 50.
It was a perfect day for sea trials with the wind howling a steady 20
to 25 with occasional gusts to 27 and 30. There were white caps in the
bay south of Peanut Island, which extended right up to our haul-out slip
at Cracker Boy yard. The Palm Beach inlet was filled with breakers, and
it was interesting to watch the boats go up to the end of the
breakwaters and then turn around. None of the private boats ventured
out; only the pilot boat went out, but he had to.
There was plenty of equivocation between the owner, the broker, and the
buyers as to the prudence of sailing out into that maelstrom. With the
decision made, since the purpose for sea trials is to check for any weak
spots, bad habits, performance, and a host of other details, we plunged
forward through the breakers.
This boat has a roller furling mainsail hauled out by an electric
anchor windlass mounted in the cockpit, a really sensible arrangement as
it is more powerful, more versatile and less expensive than an electric
winch. Both headsails are roller furling. We had no problem furling or
unfurling sails in that wind although we never did get to unfurl the
genoa.
| PROUT QUASAR 50 | |
|---|---|
| LOA: | 49'6" |
| LWL: | 45" |
| MAXB: | 23'6" |
| Hull Beam: | 5'4" |
| Draft: | 3'4" |
| Displacement: | 38,000 Lbs. |
| Sail Area: | 1,000 Sq. Ft. |
| Engines: | 2 27 hp |
| Layout: | Various - four staterooms, two heads,
galley down most common |
At this point, I must explain that I have always been a critic of
excessive beam, extremely fine bows, and big fat transoms that put the
center of buoyancy aft in cruising catamarans. My experience leads me to
believe that those are the characteristics which lead to mediocre
performance seen in so many modern cruising catamarans. I also believe
most manufacturers try to squeeze in too much accommodation for the size
of the boat, which is what leads to the overloading syndrome. This boat,
in my opinion, is properly sized for the accommodations.
Prout and others have steadfastly adhered to the double-ended
philosophy with the center of buoyancy close to the center of the boat.
This allows waves either from forward or astern to lift the boat in a
more level attitude rather than pitching the boat forward. It works!
The Quasar 50 is considered a narrow beam boat by modern pundits, who
tout their own wide beam wares. The boat is 47 feet long at the
waterline and 23 1/2 feet at the maximum beam, putting it at the classic
length/beam ratio measurement of 2:1, which has been used since
Polynesian times (and used by some of the most successful boats ever
built). I must remind the readers that the reason for going to the
extra-wide beam in cruising catamarans was to create considerably more
volume and space in the same length boat, not for safety or
performance.
Bullying our way through the breakers, the first thing you notice is
the absence of any pounding. It seems almost incredible, but we never
slammed the bridgedeck even once during the entire trial period. This is
a rare and unusual occurrence. Most boats, both monohulls and
multihulls, will pound...some worse than others. Planing powerboats will
kick your kidneys out. Not only did we not pound, but we also remained
at a more level attitude than most boats. We did take some spray as far
back as the cockpit, but never any green water.
 |
Part of this performance is due to the fact that the boat is 50 feet long. Length helps any boat, even poorly designed ones. With full main and full staysail we sailed at ten knots with no effort. As far as proper trim, trying to maximize speed, or anything else we might normally do, forget it. With a crew of complete greenhorns to the boat and a basic survival instinct, we simply did what we could out there in the wind and waves. Since my job was to search for structural imperfections, I spent most of my time crawling around the bilges and normally inaccessible areas looking for defects not normally seen except under load (a good way to get seasick).
As with most cruising catamarans, the feather-light helm on all points of sail, great tracking, faithful responsiveness, and great seakindliness came through in spades. This boat just has a little more of each.
Back inside the bay, with wind but no waves, I could determine that the very long straight keels and the oversize skegs on the rudders were responsible for the sluggish tacking. The cutter rig also exacerbates this problem, a problem mostly solved by the spade rudder/mainsail driven modern rigs, which tack like monohulls.
On the other hand, the long keels feature gives a true cruising boat safety and sailing features worth every bit of the tacking disadvantage.
| PROUT QUASAR 50 | |||||
| Rating | Poor | Fair | Average | Good | Exceptional |
| Motoring | X | ||||
| Docking | X | ||||
| Backing | X | ||||
| Sailing | X | ||||
| Weather helm/lee helm | X | ||||
| Windward ability | X | ||||
| Ease of tacking | X | ||||
| Visibility from the helm | X | ||||
| Tracking | X | ||||
| Seakindly/ride | X | ||||
| Underdeck Slamming | X | ||||
| Convenient Deck Layout | X | ||||
| Interior layout | X | ||||
| Adequate storage areas | X | ||||