32 feet is a sweet spot in smaller cruising sailboats. It's about the
minimum size in which you can get full headroom without excessive freeboard
and cabin height, odd proportions, or no bilge. The waterline length is
getting long enough for reasonable speed and a rigid dinghy will often fit
on deck somewhere although usually on the foredeck.

However, I think it is probably the absolute minimum size for most couples
to live aboard full time if it is of normal, post WWII, proportions.

You might want to take a look at the website for my 32 foot Endeavour:

http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/Boat.htm

These are great and underappreciated boats. Very comfortable, reasonable
turn of speed, driest boat I ever sailed, great handling characteristics if
you like a nimble and quick turning boat. Many boats this maneuvarable have
control problems when over pressed and driven hard but, as long as you keep
the speed up, the E32 will nearly always do what you need her to do. The
construction is an odd mix, lots of wood and nice visual detail but clearly
built for low cost in a yard were the crew was kept happy with unlimited
ganja. Construction is crude and heavy but solid with no core in critical
places to require expensive and difficult replacement 3 decades later. The
interior and cockpit are very intelligently laid out.

I bought mine when I was looking for a cheap boat and thought it would be
used primarily for daysailing and weekends. I then discovered a greatly
renewed interest in sailing and cruising and discovered that I had gotten a
great boat.

You could do worse than picking up one of these put plan on putting about
1.5 times the purchase price into it. If you are downgrading from the
trawler you describe, you can probably buy a higher quality and more
expensive boat but money in the bank is freedom. I like the E32's
characteristics so much that there are few 32 - 34 foot boats I would trade
her for just to get higher quality and better reputation.

--
Roger Long