OP here—
I want to thank everyone, again, for their responses. While I'm sure everyone's specific preferences and needs tend to dictate what works best for them, it's also very interesting to learn what sort of features make sense more universally.
Our
liveaboard period will not be spent in open waters; we'll be moored in a marina with perhaps only the occasional weekend day
cruise. This will go on for several months and after that the boat will remain a weekend cruiser/pleasure craft. Perhaps that changes the
scope of what would work for us?
Here are my main takeaways from what you've all said, so far:
-The type of layout I posted about is indicative of a charter vessel (no way I would ever have known that without asking! Wow!) and therefore the importance of checking a used boat's
history is greater, because it might have added wear and not have been used as gently. Would we go as far as to say this layout is a red flag in the used market?
-The forward-aft galley layout is impractical for nearly every situation except one where the boat is stationary in a marina. I like the versatility and efficiency of a U-shaped galley anyway, but I also like my (architect) wife's point about ease of movement through an open-plan
salon (saloon?) and the family-style orientation of the couches to dinette in the plan I posted about above. So, that's something I think/hope we could be flexible on.
-As we don't really expect to be spending too many nights on the open
water, the V-berth issue with regard to vertical movement of the boat isn't a huge concern. Someone mentioned the difficulty in changing
sheets on a wider berth and, well, my wife and I like each other enough so I think we'd be willing to put up with the extra effort.