Liveaboard Info/Help?

that budget will probably allow you to look at the 80s 58 Hatt as well as the wider beam 56MY (fewer available). With some luck you might even squeeze in a late 80s/early 90s 54MY, also wide beam. the 58 YF is also a good choice, being basically a 53MY with a cockpit (great for kids)

with young kids, these hatts are ideal, you can close the pilothouse and wing doors so that they can't get to the side decks and bow, only the aft deck. safer.

it's hard to beat these boats for quality and value. the older ones (15'10" beam) can be found in the mid 100s these days which woudl leave you plenty of cash for upgrades.

you may want to look at Vikings as well (mid/late 80s) and also teh Chris Craft flush decks although i think that from a build quality perspective it's hard to beat the hatts.

the defever 49 mentioned above feels like a much smaller boat and being a two stateroom boat, you're going to have issues with your girls in a couple of years... may as well go for 3 SR right away.

If you want the "euro style" look, you can probably find some Viking Sport Cruisers and others close to your budge, but will be probalby be 2 stateroom and a bit more cramped (the price you pay for all that sleekeenes!)

browse YW (use advanced search) for size range and price range... there could be other choice, maybe Cheoi Lee, trawlers, etc.. that you will find appealing although when i did that i kept coming back to Hatteras.

good luck eating off the bilge with a Detroit Diesel powered boat

after the boat, the most important thing is the marina and location. things to consider besides neighborhood, shopping, etc (as if it was a home) are...

-ease of boarding
if you have to board on the side, is the finger pier long enough? can you get the stern close enough to board without a passerelle?
-protection from wakes and chop:spending your time holding on to bottles, glasses and pots while cooking is no fun! If your friends can't visit you without puking their guts out, it's no fun!
-parking: convenienent, safe, secure...
-privacy: if you are at the end of the dock, you have a longer distance to walk but fewer people walking by. i prefer that...
-security: gated dock, security guards making the rounds, etc...
-neighbors: too many liveaboards around you may sound nice (community /social thing) but less privacy. I like being on a dock with a few liveaboards but spearate by non live aboards.
-pump out: if you have to move the boat to the pump out every week or two, make sure the hours are convenient so that you can stop when returning from a week end out on the water. having a pump out at each slip is ideal...

as to living aboard up north... winter bring a whole set of challenges from keeping the ice and snow off the boat, walking down a frozen dock, getting water when pipes on the dock are shutdown because of freezing, getting a pump out, etc... yuck! in the summer time, no problem!

Teh other issue is that some marinas do not allow liveaboards... either because they dont' want any or because zoning and local ordinances dont' allow it... do your homework.