[Silmaril]

George,

I did not pick up in your post regarding your budget. Well, I have an all time favorite boat that I have sailed, and would not hesitate to take on a world tour. The Valiant 42. This Bob Perry desigened cuttter is in my opinion the ultimate long distance boat. She is swift, built like a tank, has a canoe stern to help with following seas, is designed from the keel up with your purpose in mind. She can handle a blow for days on end, yet can ghost along in the light stuff as well. Her deck layout is superior to just about everything else out their when it comes to working a boat in a seaway. Her total lack of wood above deck means no maintenance. Her ability to manage multiple ground takle on her stout bowsprit is a huge plus. Her realatively shallow draft will get you into all the good spots, and as far as stranding/careening is a concerned, no sweat. She even has nice replacable hull strakes for those particularly nasty rafting opportunities. There is just about no other boat I could think of that hits on so many world cruisers hot buttons. The world is full of wanna-be cruisers, but very few other boats comes even close. New, you are talking a breathtaking $450k+++ boat, and used in the mid $300's. Their was a bug about the older (1990's and older I think, but not sure on the exact dates) boats and the resin problems with the fire proofing additive and it's delamination issues, but that was fixed on leter production runs. Look at a late model Valiant 42 and you will find a boat that has the world traveler in mind.