The yacht specification...

We have spent numerous hours trawling sailing magazines, cruising blogs and many hours talking to my parents who have done this all before.
They recommended we look at yachts in the UK to further identify likes and dislikes with regards to designs, size, space, performance etc.

Many of our weekends were spent travelling down to the Solent (Portsmouth, Southampton etc) to view yachts from 30 foot, up to 40 foot to get a picture of what is on the market and to create a short list of makes, models, preferences and sizes.

As a pair of consultants, we are fairly analytical when it comes to these sorts of decisions so created our own criteria.

1. Used yacht preferably not older than 30 years
2. Monohull
3. Between 30 and 40 foot (any larger and the costs go up exponentially and any smaller and it would be tricky to store all our possessions and live comfortably)
4. Of a suitable cruising pedigree from a recognised designer. (Many yachts are built for many different purposes. Not all are suitable cruising yachts)
5. Fin and skeg design (personal preference as I believe long keel yachts not as manoeuvrable or have the same performance as more modern fin keel). As we will be sailing in the tropics there is not much tidal fluctuation and hence a bilge keel is not an option.
6. Hull can be Aluminium, cold moulded wood or GRP (Fibre Glass). Steel is also an option above 37 feet.
7. Sloop or cutter rig
8. Low maintenance yacht with few "toys". i.e. electronic water makers, water pumps, hot water etc.
9. Medium / heavy displacement yacht (too heavy and she will probably have poor performance and too light and she will be thrown around in a heavy sea)
10. Decent sized water tanks for longer range cruising
11. Interior should be open and well ventilated with a decent master berth for in port use
12. Suitable opening ports and hatches for ventilation in the tropics. (Some UK yachts did not have many hatches or had small hatches as they were not a huge requirement in that region of the world)
13. Adequate stowage space for clothes, tools, spares, food, sundry kit (older designed yachts like the Nicholson 35, although beautiful yachts were quite restricted in the amount of stowage space below)
14. Single head (I don't have 2 loo's in my house, why would I want 2 on a small yacht...and 2 more holes in the hull too!)

Hood 38

Certain preferences come into the mix too:

1. No traveller in the cockpit (great if you are single handing, but a pain as it takes up space, more ropes to foul the cockpit, limits use of a Bimini)
2. Manual water pumps in the galley and head
3. Centre cockpit generally means larger internal space and a drier boat, however this is not a requirement as most yachts in our bracket are aft cockpit

Nice to haves but no deal breakers included:
1. Self tailing winches
2. Dodger and Bimini (to keep the sun and spray away)
3. Windvane self steering is a big plus
4. Up to date electronics (in our searches, very few boats have modern electronics so we opted to factor in that all electronics would probably need to be replaced)
5. Fridge
6. Radar
7. Lazy Jacks
8. Spinnaker
9. Generator

With these points in my mind we commenced our search using the internet (yachtworld.com and sailboatlistings.com) to create a shortlist of yachts in Florida prior to travelling down there to view.