Somanyboats states it nicely. To paraphrase, "do your homework" :-)
Spending a few hours, or a few days, "chasing boats", starting here:
https://sailboatdata.com/
will enable you to develop a shortlist. Once you have that, your focus needs to shift.
SailboatData will show you the physical attributes, just like the photos on a dating site, but as you know, that isn't everything. Personality, in the end, will count for more, and every boat (not every MAKE of boat, but every INDIVIDUAL boat) has its own personality. In fact, in former days there was a firm belief - I hold it still - that ships have souls. Some are pussycats, some are snarling tigers.
Some observations on your list of desiderata:
-Fin w/ skeg hung rudder or full keel
What else is there? Or do you mean "no centre-boarders"? Or "no bilge-keelers"? If so why do you count those two types out?
-35-42 ft (preferably around 37-40 ft)
SailboatData will guide you. YachtWorld is a useful reference, but that publication's purpose is to make
money for its publishers - not to give
novice sailors guidance. Doing that is simply a means to making
money, and therefore not to be taken without whopping dollops of
salt.
-head with separate shower
IMO a waste of expensive space better used for other things such as stowage of essential
gear and, if you are thinking of passage-making [and who isn't, till reality rears its ugly
head :-)?], for provisions.
At sea you cannot really use a
shower anyway, and a "Liverpool wash" is far more efficacious and sparing or that scarcest of resource: water! On the hook go for a swim. Clean the residual a
salt off you bod with a sponge and a minimum of fresh
water. In
marinas, go use the wash-house. All
marinas have them.
Loose
water of any kind below decks is to be eschewed!
-aft cabin that can preferably sleep 2
Why? How old are you :-)? How "keen" are you :-)? No, don't answer that :-)!
-American made (many beautiful boats in EU I wish I could get)
Hm.. Why can't you get 'em? Does your patriotism stretch so far that you will give a pass to a superior "furren" boat just because it IS "furren"? Many superior boats are built in
Europe and elsewhere and many of them make their way to American shores.
-a galley large enough to hold decent food stores and large water tankage
See above. The
galley is NOT where you keep provisions and NOT where you keep your potable water! A galley should be SMALL enuff, if you are thinking of
passage making, that "cookie" can brace her/himself as the boat rolls and pitches. The pots on the
stove are never filled more that 1/2 full, they are lidded when possible, and they are ALWAYS held in place on the burners by "fiddle clamps" when you are underway! A "fiddle" is the "rail" surrounding the
stove top. The clamps are held to the fiddles with substantial thumb screws.
-preferably no teak decks
SailboatData will be your guide.
-blue water capable that sails well
Nearly EVERY boat you will find listed in SailboatData and discussed in "the glossies" is "blue water capable" and all of them sail ADEQUATELY. The question is rarely "is the boat
blue water capable?" The question is almost always "Is the
SKIPPER "blue water capable?". Adequate boat handling I could teach you in a weekend. SKIPPERING takes a lifetime to learn :-)!
-no bolt on keel or blade rudder
Whyever not? Huge numbers of boats have "bolt on"s. That "bolt ons"
qua "bolt ons" are inferior in any respect doesn't stand up to engineering scrutiny. Whether that part of the
interior structure of the
hull that bears the
keel is adequate is an entirely different question. If it is not, you should suspect other
parts of the particular boat's design
-$100k or less
No problem. Two years ago a Fast
Passage 39 just in from a
circumnavigation and ready to go again the day tomorrow
sold in our marina for Can$65K!
All the best to you :-)
TrentePieds