Value for money: 20 y/o Privilege vs. 5 y/o FP/Lagoon/Leopard?

[Lency]

Hello all,

We’re a couple from Amsterdam aiming to move our life onto a catamaran fulltime for the next 5+ years or so and see the world while continuing to run our online business.

Our budget allows us to either get a ~5 year old production cat (probably Leopard 40~44 or Nautitech Open 40, owners versions) or a 90s “premium” cat (Privilège 435/445/465 or Catana or Antares) that has been extensively refitted recently.

Now we’ve learned that there’s been quite a decrease in build quality with many builders as of 2002~2003 (correct us if we’re wrong). We’ve also heard/read stories of people with older premium cats being in better shape than (much) younger cats built in the last 10 years.
Furthermore, we do love the more naval look and feel of the older models as opposed to the (lack of) atmosphere the more modern floating apartments, BUT we do want “an apartment that sails” as opposed to “a boat you could live on” (we’re in our 30s and will continue to run our fulltime online business from the boat, so comfort and efficiency is a priority).

Now, the main question behind our dilemma is resale value. We’re absolutely convinced that even an old Privilege for instance is much built much more durable / sturdy than a young Leopard, but how far does that stretch? Is there a certain curve to take into consideration?

So for instance, over a 10 year period , is the quality of a Privilege 3X the age of that of a Leopard likely to lead us to more sailing benefits / peace of mind, or will the depreciation of a cat that old lead to a greater loss on the longer run? Perhaps there is a point in age where a Privilege starts to deteriorate faster? We have no idea as we have no experience with older boats.

Hope our question makes sense, many thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Warm regards,
Les & Nancy

[Lency]

Sorry, newbie mistake, posted in the wrong section. Copying to Multihull Sailing.