The Tempest 165 is 16′6" long, 21.5" beam. The Cruiser is 17′3" x 22.8", a bit more volume than the Tempest. That doesn’t mean one is better than the other. It more means that you’re comparing apples and oranges. If you’re doing a lot of multi-day trips, you might appreciate the Cruiser more. But the Tempest *might* be a better day boat.

As far as similarities, both boats appear to be heavily influenced by British designs: they both come standard with skegs and have the round rubber hatch covers (which are usually very watertight). The decks look fairly low, and the Tempest is somewhat narrow, while the Cruiser is only slightly narrower than North American designs. In addition, some argue that the Tempest is very heavily influenced by the Nigel Dennis Romany (which would be another boat worth checking out, especially since it’s now available in plastic). And Point 65 claims Nigel Foster heads up their R&D department (but who knows how active he is; he’s also helped design some boats for Seaward).

As far as durability, if you’re looking at polyethylene, I’m thinking either would be fine. It’d be more a matter of design than construction. You can check out some reviews on paddling.net. But in the end, the best thing to do is to try out the boats yourself and see which you like better.