S&S Swan as Cruiser

[deluxe68]

My wife and I have some experience sailing smaller boats on lakes but zero ocean experience. I have been doing research to find the right boat for us. I have been bouncing between strictly live-aboard blue-water cruising and condo living near San Francisco and Bay sailing with some occasional coastal sailing. I have been pricing used Swans for the past 18 months as I am very impressed with their build quality and safety. They seem to get high grades for being great handling boats. I have read in other forums that people do not consider these older Swans a good choice for cruising. A Swan broker had a 1976 41 footer for sale and said it would be great for the Bay but not for blue-water. He could not explain why but gave me a list of books to read. I realize that the older Swans have a very dated interior layout and limited tankage. Specifically why are the older S&S Swans not viable cruising candidates? We will have a budget of $30K for a down payment this year and $45K next year. We are also considering other options such as a new boat in/out of a charter service but that is for another post.