couple of questions

[dc013]

hi, i recently finished sailing school with my wife and were looking to buy a used boat. most of our sailing will be done on the hudson river and long island sound, in new york. we intend to do mostly daysailing to start and maybe some long weekends, with 2 small children. ive been looking at boats for some time now and have narrowed my search to 3 boats. all are late 1970,s 32ft sloops.all with basically the same layout inside and all have between 18-20 hp deisels.all have been very well maintained and updated. a pearson, endeavour and a columbia. i will of course have a survey done on the one i choose. my questions were
1.is this a good size for our first boat?
2.any opinions on the above boatmakers, (quality ,safety ,etc....)
3. i noticed the endeavour`s beam is 6 inches narrower, but the boat weighs an additional 1200 lbs, is this important?
4.are there any particular featurs i should look for ? ie: roller furling
thanks in advance

[DARE-Oriental]

we sail an older (73) Pearson 33 and love her. My family had a Pearson Vanguar when I was a teenagerm and while prettier, I think the Shaw designed P-33 is a better sailer.