I knew a couple in the
Caribbean who owned the
Hylas 47. They were from
Vancouver. They had sailed the boat in any number of storms and lived aboard with their young daughter (5 yrs old?). I spent time aboard the boat and found it to be an excellent
liveaboard. It seemed to have the right compromise between
liveaboard and go-fast cruiser. (Similar to the less expensive Hirsh... ha ha... kidding) Really, the Hylas did have that type of balance. It was roomy, light and airy below decks and well laid out. All
hardware was top notch. Nothing felt "cheap" at all on the boat, which I wouldn't expect it to either... given the cost.
Performance wise, they boat also mixed comfort with speed. Inherently, it's a pretty fast boat, but the couple I knew said it behaved very well in rough conditions heading down from
Vancouver to the
Caribbean.
I also have been aboard the larger Hylases and had a chack with that guy Dick who owns the company. We asked him the tough questions about his production overseas and the answers seemed honest and that the boats were built under a very watchful eye from his office.
One thing most of them have are those
teak decks. I don't know if they have figured out how to make them such that the boats don't leak years down the road, but that might be the only drawback. I know those
teak decks are an option though, so your particular Hylas may not have them.
As a confession, I looked at
buying one of these before my company was destroyed by 9/11. Good thing I didn't, given the
current state of my finances. ha ha
That's about all I can add...
Best of luck. I think the hardest part with this boat list is that you can't go completely wrong with any of them.