Yet another "What boat" question - advice needed please.

[RoyC]

My wife and I are a few years out from going "cruising". We sold our Lavranos Holiday 34 monohull last year and will be looking to refine our search and purchase in the next year or two. As the pickings are very slim over here (South Africa) we are considering a trip next year to USA to start our search for a suitable vessel.

Our plan was originally to sail from Cape Town to BVI etc, explore USA (including ICW) and perhaps eventually sail across to the Med. Thereafter ... who knows?

Our budget for the vessel would be around $100k.

So here is where it gets a little complicated. My wife is sold on a catamaran and was quite taken with a Rayvin 30 that we tested a few months ago in South Africa. Although only 30ft, it seems to have a great local reputation and a few are cruising. I know of at least one that has gone on to Australia etc. We understand that we would have to travel relatively light though. Not many of these were produced though so the one issue is availability. At this price point the only real options over here would be the Rayvin30 or an earlier Wildcat 35 which has a mixed reputation (Although I was also one of those who had to postpone our plans when Charter Cats folded and we, along with others, suffered a large financial loss, I will not hold that against the vessel). Most of the other Cat preferences are in excess of our budget.

I have been browsing available monohulls in the 40-45ft range and am gently trying to persuade her to consider this as an option. One of the monohulls which seem to be softening the viewpoint is the Jeanneau 43DS. I may be incorrect but my instinct is that this would be a better option than a 30ft catamaran for our purpose, especially if we want to continue on to more remote destinations i.e. more bluewater cruising.

So my primary questions are ( and there is a whole host of others, I assure you ):

What would be a suitable catamaran for our needs and budget?
Is my thinking regarding a 45ft monohull rather than a 30-35ft cat sound or incorrect (within the confines of our budget constraints)?
I am aware that in addition to purchase price I need to allocate funds for equipping the vessel, so $100k would be our vessel only upper limit.

Of course if we purchased on East Coast of USA we would avoid the trip across from SA, which is a attractive option in some ways, although the trip has its advantages for us.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[Kevin84]

My only concern with a Cat would be doing the ICW. I've only ever traveled short portions of it, but I've seen some areas that would make me feel a bit squeezed in something as wide as a cat. Draft wise, it would be ideal, as there are some spots you're sweating anything over 5'

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[boatman61]

BVI Yacht Sales Ltd. (Nanny Cay, British Virgin Islands)&

BVI Yacht Sales Ltd. (Nanny Cay, British Virgin Islands)&

[RoyC]

Thank you for the input so far.

@boatman, I would probably not be interested in a vessel with 3 cabins and 3 heads, but I appreciate the suggested links. Ideally we would prefer 2 cabin layout.

My thinking is that a deck saloon design may be a bit of a compromise on the one level living advantage that my wife's enjoys about a Cat. The "living at an angle while sailing" is a bit of a challenge to overcome with a monohull