Narrowing down choices for day sailing...Catalina 34 or 36?

[gigaman]

The admiral has finally give the nod for me to start shopping for our home away from home on the water. Instead of a "what should I buy" thread, I have much more specific needs. I've dug and researched and crewed for a good 8 years until I could get the money and time together to make this happen. Boat shopping online has been deceiving as the pictures don't really show me the size of the all important areas I need to make the family happy. So, with your help, I'm hoping I can narrow my search to physical boats to see.

My experience to date is a 1984 O'Day 28. The cockpit is reasonable in size for our family but can be a little tight when people need to move around. We have found that we all like to spend our time on deck or in the cockpit over going below so I'm really looking for an older boat that can give me the space to have 6-8 people drinking, talking, and goofing off while I do all the hard work. I walked onto a Catalina a few years back that I think was a 34 MKII but might have been a 36 MKII. The cockpit was perfect with, what looked like, 7ft benches. We are day sailors so I am ok compromising living space for deck space.

The second requirement is budget. Isn't it always? Trying to stay under 50K and I'm ok getting dirty with repairs to an older boat. Outside of the Catalina I saw are there any other manufacturers in the 80's, 90's who built larger cockpit spaces and compromised living space? Modern boats at the show seem to be going this route, but I can't bring myself to drop 150K when there are so many older boats that need a good home.

Reading this thread, I realize my friends are all powerboat fans but I can't give up my dream of sailing. So a tall pole down the center is a must I'll be spending some weekends on board so I do need basic living quarters and a kitchen.

TIA!

[Greenhand]

Hunters tend to have pretty good sized cockpits, but the coaming is low, cutting across the kidneys even when you don't have cushions.