i plan to document my build here https://github.com/marcuscbehrens/catbot because i did not find a comprehensive guide including specific example hardware anywhere.
i combined the following components: f405-wing, volksregler escs, glockenanker motors, steven pipe, 3d printed catamaran, turnigy i6s remote and receiver, 3x16850 lipo & mppt charger, 20 w solar panel, raspberry pi plus pi cam with rpanion firmware and zerotier, ipad with lte and qgroundcontrol, windows pc with mission planner, both with zerotier
a video of an early version of the catbot is here (without ardupilot) http://4xb.de
my experience with ardupilot was that its on the complex side (comparable to ros), the instructions quickly require to be a developer and build the firmware, mission planner is an expert tool, logs are still something i have not mastered yet – but in the end you get a lot of functionality that all makes sense. so i will continue to use it although for a boat something much simpler would suffice.