[sailingdog]

I would recommend getting the Endeavour over the Hunter for the reasons mentioned above, but would ask that the OP clarify what he means when he says:

I'm a novice sailor looking to purchase my first sailboat.

If you are truly a novice sailor, rather than an experienced sailor with little cruising experience, there's a big difference. Also, if you've never owned a cruising sailboat, you may not realize the costs associated with a 42' boat and how expensive it is going to be to own and maintain.

I'd point out what Beth Leonard said about owning bigger boats... she said that she was glad they had started out on their smaller boat, and only moved up to the larger boat after owning the smaller one. Smaller boats are often far more forgiving than larger boats, and the mistakes made on them tend to be less dangerous. Screwing up with a 300 sq. ft. jib is a far different thing than screwing up with a 600 sq. ft. jib. Larger boats are also far more difficult to handle because, while electric winches and windlasses can help you raise and trim the sails and raise and lower the larger anchor, they do nothing for flaking the sails, or carrying them to store in the forepeak or when you're trying to pick up the anchor to stow it down below.

The costs roughly triple for every additional 10' of boat...so a 30' boat will cost three times what a 20' boat does, and a 40' boat will cost nine-times as much...