Cat Shopping @45ft @$250K

[wongai64]

Hi All
We are new sailors and a family of 5, ( 2 big kids and 3 medium size kids) We're shopping for a used cruising / live aboard Cat around 45 ft and under 250K ( AUD preferable) We plan on extending our experience in the local waters of North Qld and gathering experience to go beyond in a couple / few years time. Something with offshore ability is as important as our immediate needs as i don't want to be trading in a boat i have perfected to suit our needs at a later date..

Have been looking at FP, Leopard,Catana, Prout etc and have been reading everything available about all of them. It seems there has been a design influence shift in the last decade or so from cruising performance and liveability to more Charter driven demands for the big manufacturers ( big volume heavy , slow and underpowered??? This may work in our favour as we can probably only afford a 15-25 yr old boat with our budget..?!?

Any advice on what to look for in a used cat of certain vintage would be much appreciated..
Boats of noted interest are a FP "Casamance 1992", A Prout Quasar 50 1990 - (narrow beam version) A privilege if one becomes available at a decent price .. Leopard , Catana and pretty much anything else that looks solid , performs in most airs and will take bad weather with some grace..

Im a qualified Marine electrician and engineer so repairs don't scare me if the effort required is reflected in the price.. Although boats are always an ongoing project .. I'm not really after a "project" boat .. more something which we can sail away on with whatever updates / toys are required to make safe passage.

Any other make / model suggestions to consider would be appreciated. Again.. 45ft and around 250K Any feedback on the dreaded hull slap by model , sea kindliness , liveability , known issues etc etc ..?!?

Many thanks