My wife and I spent 3 years living on an old 31' Ted Brewer design, full-keel
sloop. We spent one of the years travelling from
Lake Ontario to the Keys and back. We
sold that boat shortly after our daughter was born, were boatless for nearly 2 years until our second child was born (they are now 4-1/2 and 6-1/2). We then bought something completely different, a 2004 Mac26M. Great boat for it's intended purpose (trailering and sailing on protected waters). We got to sail in a number of places that otherwise would have taken weeks to sail to.
We have just
sold the Mac and bought a boat for our next extended trip (The Bahamas), a 1996
Gemini 105M. I had been looking at numerous boats the past 4 years, but was able to narrow the field because I had a good idea where our next cruising ground would be. We also wanted space for the kids, as well as
shallow draft (something we really enjoyed about the Mac). And of course
price is an issue (we could have bought a bigger, more expensive boat, but then how could we afford to
cruise??).
There's no easy answer regarding the right boat. There are alot of choices out there, as well as alot of opinions regarding what is or isn't a good boat. It all comes down to how you intend to use it (the Mac is a perfect example, dismissed by many people because they don't look at it in the context of it's intended purpose).
I won't say the
Gemini is the boat you should buy, but it suits our purpose.
Lots of room,
shallow draft, relatively inexpensive.
Good luck.
Maybe we'll see you out there in a few years.