You might look for something like a Brewer 12.8 cutter or a Bristol 41.1 which are both 42 foot keel centerboard boats. Both are designed to be offshore capable, go any where boats, and yet both draw less than 4'6" draft.
My Dad has had one of the original 12 Brewer 12.8's, which were built for a group of very experienced yachtsmen. They were wonderfully set up boats. All of the hardware was sellected to be robust and reliable. They sail very well in a wide range of windspeeds and are easy boats to handle. They were full of small details that showed the original owner's years at sea. Dad has had his for the past 14 years and has simply loved his, cruising throughout South Florida,the Bahamas, and up the Atlantic as far as Long Island Sound. In his late 70's he and my stepmother slipped out of Marathon and despite some light air, came in at Beaufort, N.C. 4 1/2 days later. I have been extremely impressed with his boat everytime that I have sailed her.
The Bristol 41.1's have a similar reputation. That said, some of the later Brewers 12.8's and the Bristol 41.1's vary quite widely in fit out and there are some Whitby 42's being sold as Brewer 12.8's. The genuine Brewer 12.8's had very different engineering, higher ballast ratio, and an underbody with a more typical Brewer long keel, skeg hung rudder (Brewer bite) and a centerboard, as well as a cutter
rig with a really ingenious retractible staysail on a
furler.
In the spirit of disclosure, Dad just turned 80 and his boat is on the market, wants to do some RV'ing and then get something smaller, but there are other sisterships for sale as well.
Regards,
Jeff
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