IF you want a serious "cruiser", and not just a marina bound condomaran, then you will need to be able to handle considerable amounts of going hard to windward, often in a gale. Survival storms will eventually be served up as well! I've been through more than a dozen hurricanes...
MOST, (but not all) FRP production cats are built to a design that does NOT fill these requirements, and they were NOT intended for this
service. You need to pick from the <10% that were...
A true "cruising cat" has really good wing clearance for one, (enough to drive a high bow
RIB through the wing tunnel). It needs to be wide as well, for stability.
It would have JUST enough
head room in the main bridge
deck cabin, that you don't hit your
head, and a
cabin that is small, leaving GOOD visibility forward, (UNDER a high clewed jib), AND good walking space on its side decks.
It is thus designed to have relatively low windage, and applying these parameters, light but STRONG construction techniques & materials, AND low
storage of heavy items. This keeps the COG low.
This stable, low COG, low windage, good visibility, minimally pounding platform, is combined with light weight, so that a small but easily reefed rig will drive her.
With skill, experience, and good judgement, she could easily take you around the world... with
safety, speed, and relative comfort.
Many of the best "designs" are older ones, for the custom "one off"
builder. (Back in the day, before the majority of folks
lost their multi year attention spans, and the ability to use more than just their button pushing thumbs)...
These "better designs", were better because they were not designed to sell boats, they were designed to sell plans to build boats. The priorities of the experienced
multihull home
builder, were generally of wanting the more serious cruising type of vessel, for real world cruising.
IF you look carefully, there are still some great examples of these craft out there. A few production cats qualify as well.
Good luck in your search!
M.
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