[garyp]

All of these boats are available in good condition within my budget. I am settled on the keel/centerboard configuration. I have day sailed all my life, and have built two boats, but no offshore and nothing over 22 foot. Pamlico Sound to the Caribbean is my goal.
Aesthetically I am most attracted to the Bristol, and then the Morgan. I know of at least one Tartan 34 which has circumnavigated, that the Morgan doesn''t have a much of a bridge deck, and that all of these boats have a rather large cockpit for offshore work.
I would like a boat which is responsive, has some self-steering capability and the ability to heave-to, and prefer a comfortable motion in a seaway over ultimate speed.
Opinions please.