Some people have asked what our ideal boat would be.  For me, the Pacific Seacraft 37 has pretty much been the boat of my dreams since I first began thinking about cruising.  Practical Sailor, a magazine along the lines of a "Consumer Reports" for sailors (it accepts no advertising), says this about the boat: "For an off-the-shelf serious cruiser for two people or a small family, you couldn't do much better than this boat.  The hull shape and design are pretty ideal, and the looks are classic without being dated or cute."  

That's about the highest praise you are ever going to find in Practical Sailor.  The boat looks like this:

It is not everyone's ideal.  The same canoe stern that makes it so great in a storm limits the interior space and how much you are able to store in the cockpit lockers.  It also makes climbing in from a swim or from a dinghy more of a challenge.  At the same time, because it is so well built it is also pricey.  That's the issue for us.  Pacific Seacraft didn't start using vinylester in the hull until 1989.  Anything earlier than that is prone to blisters which is a costly repair.  The problem for us is that anything after 1989 is going to cost too much.  So the search continues...