I like what centre cockpits give you, namely an aft stateroom often with an island
bed. I would imagine that people who own them swear by them. There are aft
cockpit boats that offer the same. In the same vintage the Sun Odyssey 43 or 43DS have the capacity to provide a huge
bed in the aft stateroom.
We sail in the
Med and almost always moor stern to. With a couple sailing on a
boat with the cockpit aft, "med"
mooring is fairly straightforward; one on the
anchor winch and one at the
helm. When you get within a metre of the quay the helmsman cuts the throttle, turns around and throws the lines to anyone on the quay. Sometimes you need to step off and tie up the
boat yourself. During the process you take the
engine out of
gear and trim the
anchor. All this is fairly easy when you're controlling from the stern. I would think that a 'mature' couple might find the same a little difficult when you need to climb out of the cockpit and get down to the stern to manage the lines.
We also like open transoms and twin helms. They make access very easy and open up a lot of space in the cockpit. Modern boat shapes really encourage this design. Having a stern swim platform makes getting in and out of a
tender very easy. It's also great for
diving off and climbing back on.
If you don't mind coming to
Europe to buy a boat, I would look at other options as you'll get more boat for the same
price. Sailing the
Med is not too bad a life. You can get your boat sailed back or loaded as cargo. I am not sure but You might get it back to the US for about $20,000. That's not too bad when you consider the
price difference. You must do
research about the
appliances and
wiring on EU
boats. They might have thinner wires for the high voltage system and that might need special considerations.
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