Don't just buy anything but, decide and buy it, it won't be the best and it
will be a comprimise, but it will also save you another 18 years of wishing
you bought one

The urge has struck me once again. After 18 years without a "real"
boat I have weakened and am thinking of buying a boat! And this is
why I turn to you folks for advice. After being away from the boat
scene for so long I really don't know the models and types well enough
to start doing the boat search with any degree of direction.

So here is what I am looking for:
1. Something for offshore in the Gulf of Mexico (the islands off the
Mississippi Gulf Coast and AL, LA coasts)

2. Needs to be a flybridge type. The wife responds poorly to too much
sun and I like the view from a top station. Also needs a lower helm
station so that we can get in out of the rain and for docking ease
when short handed.

3. Needs to be capable of having a generator and air conditioning.

4. Would prefer twin engines -- most likely gas.

5. Needs to sleep four/six

Well, you are saying just go buy a trawler or something like that.
Yep, that would work but I would like to keep it smallish -- 25-32 ft
range. And there is the rub -- most smaller boats don't sport a
generator. We would be using the boat for trips to Horn Island for a
weekend ever so often and along the intercoastal waterway so being
cool at night is a *REAL* biggie and being a smaller boat would make
it possible for us to use one of the inside dry storage facilities.

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions

Bill
On a Bayou in Mississippi