"Centuries of boat design have evolved from engine room access away from the transoms" I don't think that would apply to power catamarans. Until you get to 50 ft. stand up engine rooms with a separate bulkhead are pretty difficult unless you are willing to seriously compromise the interior. You cant compare mono hulls, particularly displacement trawlers, which have the hull depth to accommodate such engine rooms. I guess if you were stern to the waves you could have a problem, but it is no problem to keep the boat bow to with one engine, if both are down, then a sea anchor in rough conditions might be a good idea while doing repairs but that would apply to any boat. Mr. Harrot you don't need a "gusher" to have corrosion a mild spray of saltwater will do and it was one engine that was affected and it was very little corrosion, I was on the boat and delivered it to the show so I beg to differ with your statement. I can assure you Manta owners don't stay at the dock, ALL of them are cruising there boats some with over 8000 nm. already. A simple solution for someone like Mr. Harrot who has deep concerns is to install a water tight access hatch in the aft bulkhead of each aft stateroom to access the engine room from the interior. So far no one has requested this before or after the fact on a Manta. Installing rails on the external platform is also easy to do, and has been done on a couple of Manta's where the owner fishes from the platform. May I ask Mr. Harrot what design you are currently cruising offshore?