Georgs I'm Bill Alloway - a subscriber to T&T lists for quite a while, new to this one. We sold our 10M Prowler last year to look for a boat to do the loop on our retirement. So far we've had trouble finding a match between our budget and our requirements, but have kept our interest up by chartering: in the North Channel of Georgian Bay (a Carver), in France's Canal du Midi (a 28' diesel cruiser) and in Florida's ICW west (a PDQ catamaran out of Sarasota). We loved a lot of things about the PDQ (made near Toronto where we live), especially: - the handling, - the deck size and walkaround room, - the tiny draft, - the salon room and 360 view from inside, - the headroom (I'm 6'10", a big problem on most boats if I'm on for a year or two), and the speed (14-16 knots) vs fuel consumption. But there were problems from my wife's point of view: - no washer/dryer or appropriate space for one, - galley size (too small for 2, too cramped for serious cruising and storage), - the stateroom layout (ie. crawling over your partner to get out, no way to walk around the bed, and no place to really stand to get dressed), and the motion in a stiff beam sea or one on the quarter (I think that all boats roll at least sometimes, but she got a little queasy). So we're still looking, but I'm hoping to find a cat that addresses these and still will fit the budget. I'm a little concerned that we're getting to like the travel associated with chartering and the fact that other people's boats mean other people's problems so much, we may skip the ownership until it's too late.