Biased of course but we choose the Gemini.
In 6yrs of cruising including the Great Loop, we've only been asked to pay extra once. When we pointed out the size of the
monohull in the slip next to us, they backed off (I understand
Europe can be different). Never have we paid extra. A few times, we did take advantage of inside shallow slips at
marinas that said they were full (took a little explaining when they didn't want to put us in the empty slip)
For
anchoring and shallow
water cruising, hands down the Gemini wins. In crowded
anchorages, we often were able to take advantage of shallow areas on the edge.
For a while, they did have a CE ocean rated version meant
for sale in
Europe. My understanding is the difference was mostly to meet the letter of the law. It's lightly built (not weak) because
catamaran performance is greatly impacted by weight. Lightly loaded weekend sailing, the Gemini will smoke the IP.
The drivetrain is outside the
cabin and completely retractable (The new 2
engine model is not considered a Gemini by many as it is a much different design). This keeps heat and petroleum products outside the cabin. If you pick up a crab pot, I can lay down on the back
deck and untangle it (not that we ever have had to).
Visibility is not really a problem. It's as good or better than any pilot house boat. One nice think is we are able to skip the dedicated chart plotter as we mount a
laptop just inside in front of the
helm and drop the rear windows. In all but the worst
weather it stays nice and dry. If the rain does come from just the right angle (rare), we pull the window up half way and that has always taken care of the issue.
Living space is much better/bigger in the Gemini. Probably have to compare to a 40' mono to get comparable.
Downsides to a Gemini:
- If you want to bash to
weather, it get's noisy was waves hid the bridge
deck. It doesn't appear to do any damage but it's unpleasant for cruising (bear off a little and the problem goes away)
- It's not a gold plater and they do tend to develop spider cracks due to the light build specs (cosmetic not structural)
- Built in
storage is limited. We got around this by removing the mattress and adding shelves to convert one of the aft cabins to a pantry
storage room.
We've been on a few IP's but it's not a lifestyle for us. They do appear to be nice well built boats but traveling at a 20 degree angle and then going down into a cave to live...no thanks.