Annual Costs

[snort]

Howdy sailors!
I'm considering buying a cruising catamaran in a few months and wanted to get your opinion on costs. I live in California and can find a few suitable boats on this coast, but better buys in Texas and Florida. I ran a price check on "dockwise" to see what transport costs would be through the Panama Canal. Well, I can't remember exactly, but it was way more than I thought it would be. I was thinking that maybe I could sail a boat down to the Caribbean side of the canal and have someone skipper the boat up to California from there, which is a much longer trip. Is there a standard rate per mile or week?
Apart from that, I'm looking at boats ranging from the PDQ32 to Manta38. The former are simple with two 9.9 Yamahas, while Mantas are loaded with equipment and have saildrives. I know this is a general question, but what might a ballpark estimate be for annual fees and maintenance be for these? What costs should I be looking at, i.e. haulout charges, bottom cleaning and painting, etc...I know I'm bound to leave something big out and someone here will likely help me think more clearly about the choice of small and simple versus big and loaded.
Thanks in advance!

[maxingout]

Unless you move the boat yourself, it is going to cost lots of money to get catamaran to California. When you add in the wear and tear and gear breakage, it might be less expensive to get a boat that already is in California. For the same amount of money, you might be able to get a nicer catamaran in California.

[hellosailor]

The PC corporation has their own web site and publishes their rates, but the rate depends on adding up many small things so there's no one simple price. A 30-40' pleasure craft can expect to pay $1000-1500 IIRC. You must hire crew, you must use approved, you must wait until called...Figure a fast $1500 and up, or see their web site to get exact current numbers.