Prout Catamarans Ltd

Francis and Roland Prout, the brothers that founded the Prout catamaran building business more than 40 years ago, pioneered cruising multihull production. Francis and Roland were top UK canoeists competing in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics; they were also skilled sailors and boat builders working in the family boat-building business. After sailing an experimental boat with a hull comprising two canoes lashed together they went on to develop and produce commercial catamarans. The achievements of Prout Catamarans were outstanding for very many years, with some of their models becoming legendary for their seaworthiness, structural reliability, ease of handling and comfortable design. Over 4000 boats were built and designs ranged in sizes from 26 to 70 feet.

In July 2000, after the company had struggled for a couple of years against a decline of sales and resulting substantial operating losses, Prout Catamarans was bought by Quest, a subsidiary of the Canadian Winfair group. A little over a year later, Prout went into receivership. Production of the larger boats was moved to Thailand, leaving the reborn "Prout UK" with the building of two models, the 38 and the 46, with two new models (43' and 53') planned. This strategy, however, did not work either, and in early 2002 Prout declared bankruptcy once more.

This time, it was bought by Broadblue, a furniture company/ship-building school located not far from the Prout plant. The new division, Broadblue Catamarans Ltd, hired several key staff from Prout, including former Managing Director Robert Underwood. Broadblue continues to develop two of the models Prout were building when the company closed.