Yes, I agree with everything Danny said but IMHO you need to size your vessel so the weakest member of your crew can handle her when and if an emergency arise. Imagine your wife (I'm making an assumption here I know) has to raise the anchor. Sheet the sail alone, raise it alone, set a storm sail alone. If she can't do it then you are putting two people at risk by getting a larger boat. Danny said size is equal to comfort and I agree but size also equals more work. So you don't have a lot of Teak. SS isn't maintenance free. Hulls aren't maintenance free, keeping the bottom clean on a 50 footer is much harder then a 40 footer and much harder then on a 30 footer. Engine size too is larger and with a larger engine that means more fuel, more oil, more of everything. A crusing friend of ours has a 53' mono with twins! Now a cat owner may say that they often cruise with just one engine but I don't know if he will. Come to think of it; I'll ask him.

Ciao,