That
Adams 12 might work for you. Joe Adams' boats are mostly easily driven. Some of them are kinda cramped. We looked at a very nice Carina, but she was just a little small for what we thought we wanted.
For a boat that you are going to live on full time, you need to think in terms of physical comfort, for both partners. Berths need to be secure at sea, of adequate length, and may require new foam. Ideally, everything should be scaled to the smaller person, usually the woman, so that she can enjoy the fun of the sailing. This may mean investing in new, larger self-tailing winches. As to comfort, a
dodger is really important, and most Qld people want a
bimini as well, for the sun protection. Those are issues with various solutions (don't really HAVE to have a
bimini, but you do need shade under way sometimes)*, but issues you need to imagine the solutions for when you're looking at boats. The placement of the winches around the
companionway will affect the practicality of a dodger.
For the
galley, two, deep sinks is really good. A two burner
stove is probably adequate (we lived on a boat with 2 burners and an
oven for 18 yrs.). Your good lady will have some ideas about that, and the more outdoorsy or of minimalist inclination she is, the easier the transition to a boat will be. The Steinman 50 offers little privacy, and needs lots of
varnish, but it will probably be a tender but competent boat in a seaway. Experientially, "tender" equates to "tiring" because it will sail on its ear a lot.
Handholds. Imagine that sailing in choppy
water is a little like trying to keep your footing in an earthquake: hand holds help. When the boat is leaping about, your excretory system doesn't stop, and the smaller, less strong crew person needs to be able to safely get to the
head, stay on the pot, wash hands, and return to the
cockpit. It's all harder at 25 deg of heel.
Nuff for now.
Ann
*in our case, we have two rows of zippers in the aft end of our dodger two 1/2 width ones, and one that goes the whole width; and we made clear, downwind rain protection that zips in, an awning that zips in and is supported by the
solar panel arch aft, and a 1/2 awning that zips in either side, also supported by the arch, so that we can have sun or
wind protection, and add mosquito netting, as well. The
solar panels themselves, offer some shade.