New to Sailing Cats

[sailawhile]

Hello Cruisers Forum!
This long term monohull sailor is considering dipping his toe in the sailing cat market. I am new to the catamaran market. I am hoping to sail the Caribbean for an extended period of time with my wife and rotating guests. Currently I sail a Tartan T4100.
My question is, based on actual experience, is there a hierarchy ranking of brands? I am looking for something in the 40' to 46' size range. Because this will be a liveaboard, I like the real estate a cat will afford you. I do prefer a turn of speed. Quality is important to me. I have concerns about things like hull slap and inherent quality issues. I feel like I would prefer to avoid charter boats. What features are important to you? Looking forward to your input.
Thanks

[sw34]

There is a huge difference between a 40' and 46' cat - much more than 6' of length difference in a monohull.

Based on your desire to cruise Caribbean - I will assume your US based. If true most brands will do just fine between Bahamas and Caribbean.

To me sailing performance was a big factor in our choices. We migrated to a catamaran from the power boat world in part because I cant stand listening to the drone of engines anymore, so that means I wanted light air sailing abilities. To get better sailing performance something needs to give so you either have much smaller living space or you increase size.

The boat show">Annapolis Boat show is in October - there is a large array of cats at the show. Its worth spending a day or three there and look at the whole spectrum.

Budget and timeline are also huge factors, although I would assume delivery schedules are getting better now that some yard have ramped up and the covid surge is winding down. Two years ago most factories had 3+ year backlogs - I think many are down to one or two now, the big three are well under a year.

With as many "non-charter" boats that are being built today compared to 3 years ago, the used market for the non-charter boats should start to get some better options but time will only tell.

Good luck in your search, there are lots of great options out there but only you can decide what is important to you.