tbrgld, and others who might ask this question:
I'm not sure what would help you the most. Boatman 61 was the first to mention the how heavy small
steel boats are.
How you feel about slow as a
concept is one thing, but slower means more days at sea, which means you need more room to store
drinking water. To understand more about slow vs. faster, look up "Sail Area to
Displacement Ratio".
I am from an older generation, when it was common for sailboats to have small engines, and for the owners to expect to use the
engine little, and to be flexible as to when they might arrive somewhere. If you expect to arrive "on time", then you need more
engine power and more
fuel storage, and that cuts into life support supplies.
Boats are all compromises.
Protection from the elements is very important, both against cold and wet, but also against sun. Ventilation is important.
The
boat should be easy to singlehand. If a
ketch, the mizzen sail should sheet to its own traveler, just like the
mainsail. When you go to buy a
boat with a partner, the winches should be large enough for the weakest crew person to be able to sheet in hard on the
wind, hoist the heaviest sail. Can you reach the primary winches from the
steering station?
Anchoring gear is really important. Have a look at the CF threads "Pictures of Anchors Setting", and "Videos of Anchors Setting."
Ability to
work on the boat is critical, unless you have lots of
money to spend having others
work on them, and then you have to be crafty about selecting who it is that you are going to hire to help you.
Self steering is also important. Most people use electronic autopilots, however,
wind steering is wonderful, silent, needs no
battery power, and simple.
While a
ketch can indeed "go anywhere", assuming it keeps the
water on the outside and the pointy ends up, I'd rather have a
cutter (better overall performance, imo), but it really does come down to a choice of what you, the buyer, prefers.
The whole boat must work well in a seaway, you have to be able to get about on it safely, handholds are important,
cooking should be pretty easy, the stowage should work, you need good sea berths. This is where the older design boats are often superior. If you're looking at older boats, grp is probably a better idea for a
newbie than
steel, because the kinds of trouble old steel hulls develop can be hard to see, but still sink you. If you buy steel, you will soon become intimate friends with paints and
brushes..
chipping hammers, wire brushes, grinders and rust treatment products...
You need few through hulls. All accessible.
And that's enough of an answer to start with.
Ann