Which Boat to buy?

[KetoNomad]

Hello fellow sailing enthusiasts,

what better place than here to get some opinions on which boat to buy. I'm a very new sailor and, as it turns out, I get seasick very easily now (never used to). I previously owned a San Juan 24 thinking I could make do with its shortcomings as a cruiser but it was so unstable I couldn't stand to even be on it after a short time. I sold it at a huge loss and want to avoid that situation happening again.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to go out on a 20'000lb steel sloop (36 foot) and was almost completely fine aside from a few moments of nausea.

Now I am contemplating purchasing a relatively heavy fibreglass boat that will handle coastal cruising in British Columbia as well as being capable of heading out into bluewater. I am 6'8" tall so that makes the sleeping situation tricky but I will singlehand the vast majority of the time so I could even sleep on the cabin sole if need be while I rip out part of the interior to make way for my extra length. I don't care about racing at all, I just want something I can live on for extended periods that will go anywhere and can be rigged up with a fridge and freezer for all the bacon and steak I eat

I like the Contessa 26, Albin Vega (27 footer), Alberg 30 and am even contemplating an Alberg 37 because who doesn't want to live in a palace? Hah. It's fairly chilly in BC in the winter when I like to take off work (past freezing at night and maybe 55F or 14C for the daytime high) so the drier the ride the better; not a normal feature for a folkboat, I know. I have a drysuit but it's nice to not have to wear one all day especially for weeks at a time.

I would like to explore all the places most people don't get to see in my province like the fjords along the south and central coast. Remote places with probably no resupply opportunities for long distances in the winter. I'd have to carry lots of water and fuel and have wind generators and solar panels. I really do eat a TON of meat and fat as I'm on the ketogenic diet so I need to keep lots of food cold . I can eat 1lb of bacon and a lb of beef a day pretty easily (giving a rough idea of space needed). How much juice do those fridges guzzle?

Anyway, I picked these boats because they are said to be "seakindly" and relatively heavy, so no bobbing like a cork for every ripple like my San Juan. They are aesthetically pleasing (to me, anyway) and fairly inexpensive (I'm not Bill Gates).

I've got about $36'000 CAD right now which is not a lot but since I'm a long haul trucker and living in my truck I save most of what I earn. I can put thousands in the bank each month so by the time I'm ready to trade asphalt for salt water I should have about 90k or more. I like the Alberg 37 a lot but I gather the cost of ownership goes up exponentially after you break the 30 foot mark and I'm pretty lazy so the less hull I have to scrape and repaint the better. I'd also rather spend my money on food for cruising than more square footage but the A37 looks like the last boat I'd ever have to buy, I could live on it for good and probably go for months without resupply, so yeah.

Oh yeah and for those who are unfamiliar with the place where I'll be cutting my teeth sailing has a lot of narrow channels with tides around 18 knots and pretty significant rapids if you try to go through at anything other than slack tide so how the boat handles these conditions is no small consideration. The channels are too beautiful to miss and lead to some secluded bays.

Thoughts?