A bit of tongue in cheekiness here but would a houseboat be more appropriate for liveaboards and a real cruiser for actually getting somewhere? The pilothouse sounds great for living in and has super headspace but IMHO is dangerous for cruising in bad weather. A tent or tarp might work in lieu of a full pilothouse, depending on tropical or high latitude sailing. Most boats in the really cool places do have an enclosed and heated pilot house. At least it prevents immediate hypothermia. In Panama you'd curse it for lack of circulation and heat build-up. There you'd like it open to catch any breeze.
The typically large window areas are vulnerable to seas climbing aboard and the coachroof gets in the way of all the sailing essentials, plus you have much more windage to fight with. The boom may need to be raised higher than normal to be clear of the roof and of course the centre of effort on the sail goes higher too, so more heeling. Of course, you may choose just good weather windows and not care.
As a houseboat/home shallow draft is probably preferable, as would a long keel. Sooner or later you'll be sampling the local geology and it's no fun sitting on a short pointy keel. That catamaran or a pontoon type boat would be much more comfortable then.
Do look at sanitation and holding tank size etc. as that will be a big issue in most locations. Line up all the pros and cons first before you decide and good luck. It may be better to have something that really works well 95% of the time than a 50/50 compromise that ALWAYS is a 100% pain. I use a dodger and tent arrangement that I can take down in a hurricane and a nice cuddly companion for those cold subarctic nights.
Ivo s/v Linnupesa
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