Of course, I'd say 30 gph is in the "yikes!" category: it takes me a month
to burn that much. What about access forward in those "questionable"
conditions
(often a problem with express cruisers)? Anything else you DIDN'T like?

Like you, I can boat all weekend on 30 gal of fuel. But, we're not trying to go
25 mph, etiher.

Access forward: Fairly standard on most boats of this style to "gopherward"
(rather than go forward) onto the foredeck from the hatch. Some have walk
through windshields.....Since a side deck needs to be brought prety well aft to
acess it realistically, that swipes a lot of sq footage out of the cockpit.
Personally, I'd rather have a side deck, (maybe just one, down the port side)
but that's not really standard design in this category.

Never been personally impressed by boats with tip-toe skinny decks. IMO, better
to use the hatch than to tip toe along a wet ledge.

Soon as I find a boat without any compromises, I'll forsake my trusty tug and
buy it.............