Ahhh, standing headroom. As a cruiser, as opposed to a daysailor, the
luxury of getting out of 'bed' and standing (stretching) inside the
boat was a great feeling when I moved up from the Mac.

Scotty

"Scout" wrote in message
...

"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Scout wrote:
I'm on recon now, keeping an open mind. I know I want something
big
enough to be comfortable for a week, small enough to single hand,
and
sturdy enough to sail the coastline.

I thought you already had one like that, the Starwind 19?

Wellllll, the single-hand part is true. "Charged-With-Gold" was easy
enough
to sail solo. But comfort wasn't a strong point, sleeping was
uncomfortably
tight and there was not much room for provisions, and as Bart
described a
few weeks back, sailing for more than a few hours with mixed company
is
awkward at best.
I did sail "Charged" off the Jersey shore from time to time, but I
never
felt all that comfortable with a swing keel in ocean water. It was
ok to
dart outsidefor a few hours but I wouldn't want to sail to Nantucket
with
her.

... Ulterior motive at the moment is to get wifey to see how nice
a
bigger boat interior would be. Would be nice to stand in the
cabin (at
least for her, she's 5'4", I'm 6'4", but don't mind ducking), a
head with
a door, a real galley, yadda yadda.

There's a lot of nice boats out there. THe important thing is to
get one
that your wife will like to sail & cruise on, but that also
satisfies all
the practical (or impractical) demands you both have.

What size & price range do you have in mind?
26' - 32' or thereabouts. Price range would be as little as I can
get away
with. I'm going to the boat show to get a feel for different boats,
I'm
quite sure I won't be buying a new boat there. At least I'll have a
feel for
what I want when I hit the used market.

I feel I've been quite lucky in the boats my wife & I have saied &
cruised. It's been a lot of great time together.
Good stuff!