Catamaran for Raja Ampat Cruising: Buyer’s Guide (60–80ft)

A 60 to 80 foot catamaran suits Raja Ampat private cruising because shoal draft opens anchorages a deep-keel yacht cannot use. Priorities are draft, power and water autonomy, tender capability, tropical laminate condition and a documented import and flag position.

Why the multihull works here

The archipelago’s best anchorages sit inside reef edges and behind karst headlands. Two metres of draft rather than three changes which of them you can use. Add wide shaded deck space in a hot climate, twin engines for tight manoeuvring, and the ability to carry serious tender capability, and the case largely writes itself for private cruising.

What to prioritise in survey

• Laminate and moisture. Composite structures in the tropics need proper assessment, not a visual walk-through.
• Bridgedeck and bulkhead bonding. Where a hard-worked catamaran shows structural fatigue first.
• Rig and standing rigging age. Service life matters more than appearance.
• Sail wardrobe. Suited to light-air island cruising rather than ocean passage-making.
• Systems autonomy. Generator capacity, solar array, battery bank and watermaker output.
• Tenders and davits. Your access to everything ashore and every reef you did not anchor on.

Autonomy is the real specification

There is very little infrastructure to plug into out here. Water production, power generation, refrigeration capacity and fuel range determine how long you can stay in the places you came for. A catamaran that must return to a port every four days is a coastal boat with a Raja Ampat brochure.

Where the stock is

Very few catamarans lie permanently in West Papua. Most vessels available to a buyer here are in Bali or the wider Southeast Asian circuit and are delivered east after closing — so build delivery cost and season into the budget. Options and the regional picture are on catamarans and sailing yachts for sale.

Flag and import before offer

Whether the yacht is foreign-flagged on a cruising permit or already Indonesian-flagged is the largest structural variable in the deal, and it is not something to resolve after a deposit — see importing a yacht into Indonesia and the foreign buyer’s guide. Once the boat is here, absentee ownership works best under management.

Next step: send the desk your brief — vessel type, cruising ground, budget band in USD and timing — via the enquiry desk.