Hello All. Looking for some experienced judgement here, with an open mind based on experience. My wife and I are moving to SW Florida in September for a new life and work. We currently live in Pittsburgh. BRRRRRR!! Way too cold. We want sailing to be a big part of our new life. We first wanted a boat at least 30'' w'' deisel, and all the accomadations we could acquire. Work and finances are dictating that we may have to scale back our dream boat to more smaller, say 25'', maybe trailerable. Our intended cruising grounds are the Keys, Tortugas, and the Bahamas or beyond (providing we can follow a flotilla across the Gulf Stream, we''re not crazy). We are seeing alot of boats for sale that are great boats, Pearsons, Cape Dorys, etc., in our price range 10,000 and under. The problem is that they either have outboards, or inboard gas. I know the explosion risk associated with inboard gas so I have all but ruled out inboard gas engines. I have been told that a following sea w'' an outboard is a big problem in heavy weather while trying to negotiate inland piloting (prop coming out of the water). We don''t want to give up our intended cruising grounds. I keep thinking of way back in the day when there were no reliable engines and such, and the mariners that made it happen. I''ve even read about a 16'' that circumnavigated with no engine (www.mavc2002.com/caledoniayawl.agere1.htm), a very interesting story by the way. I also realize that weather would play a major factor in when we could leave any port that we are in given the conditions. My question is.. Are we going to bite off more than we can handle by purchasing a 22''-25'' boat with an outboard to use in our intended cruising grounds? I know that we could use the dinghy''s outboard if our main outboard would die. Is there anyone who''s had experience with our intended actions? Thanks for the input. Bob P. P.S. - If anyone needs crew, my wife and I are available for varying lengths, monohulls up to 40''. Good Day all!