The problem is in the cheap seats. There is very little available or suited to a person on a small budget. Multihulls are mostly impractical for the cruiser on a budget and, as no one seems to want to design for what would be a reasonably large niche, it does not look to getting any better anytime soon...
So, for the most part, cruisers on a budget are left with old used Pivers, Brown/Marples, and Wharrams which are not exactly cheap either.
But, here's a ray of light... Michael Schacht is working on a design of the volkscruiser sort instead of the usual bareboat fodder that is what most multihull design has become these days.
Not surprisingly it's a proa... and, be still my foolish heart, it has a balanced lug rig!
For a lot more information on a multihull cruiser that makes a lot of sense for budget-constrained folk, you can find it over at the ProaFile.
I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing a lot more from Michael on VolksCruiser in the near future...
