I'm not sure how much more maturing I can do given that I turned 70 last year, but I remain optimistic... Yes, I had a President 41. Great boat bought for all the wrong reasons, i.e. expectations that our young sons and their families would travel across the country to cruise with us. Unfortunately we had overlooked our own aspirations at that age, and the desire to see and do new and different things with little time given jobs and new family responsibilities. (We had dealt with that challenge by joining the foreign service!) In any event, we sold the unused floating bedrooms, then saw one of the first AT-34's at the Sidney Boat Show and thought, "This is exactly right for us". Until we learned the price. So, we went boatless for a few years. By 2005-6 I was semi-retired, we discovered Pacific Trawlers, and bought a PT-40 - "drinks 6, feeds 4, sleeps 2" - although at one rendezvous I had 19 drinkers and snackers aboard. (It was cozy.) The PT served us flawlessly, even though I persisted in making innumerable changes to her, many major, to better suit our wants. With only routine maintenance by her original owner and me, she never once let us down. My wife does not like long long cruises, so I started to single-hand and in 2009 took that boat north to Ocean Falls (about 200 miles south of the Alaska border), in 2010 circumnavigated Vancouver Island, and last summer circumnavigated Puget Sound. In all those trips the only failure was a light bulb! With all the projects and cruising, I started writing for a few boating magazines, and that snowballed such that by last summer I had I published more than 50 articles. Since the projects on the PT were the source of many of them, when it became apparent that there was little more that I could usefully do on her, I relented and sold the boat to a friend who had admired her for several years and was in the market. I thought to take a break from boating for a few months, but quite literally the next day saw an AT34 on the broker's dock, liked it just as much as we had 10 years earlier, and bought it. Now I'm busy drawing up lists of new projects and possible articles. As to what constitutes the perfect boat, some would argue there is no such thing, but the more likely truth is that the answer varies according to individual circumstance. My wife doesn't like to rock and roll no matter how sea-worthy the boat might be, so stability is a primary consideration for us. (She says she won't go out on any boat that tips when she boards it.) The experience with the aft-cabin 3 stateroom President showed us that we prefer a sedan, galley-up layout, and do not need a lot of bedrooms. The President and PT were both flybridge trawlers, but while we drove up top on the President because the sight-lines from inside were extremely poor, we rarely drove up top in the PT because a pilothouse is so comfortable and everything is immediately to hand. So, the lack of a flybridge on the AT was not a consideration. In fact, it's a benefit in that it lowers the profile and windage of the boat. The AT-34 - actually 36-5 LOD and just re-branded the AT-365 - as the N 37 are both derivatives of the Pacific Trawler, but the AT is much more refined in terms of design and accoutrements, and certainly has greater appeal to the distaff side without compromising fundamentals. For us, this style of boat is close to "perfect". As to size, here in the PNW, moorage is becoming both quite expensive and hard to find - old fibreglass boats refuse to die - and slips over 40' are particularly scarce. From that standpoint alone, 37-40 feet is the sweet spot for us. The President was a 12 volt boat with little in the way of nav-aids, and having moved up from a 24 foot sailboat, it was luxury. The PT is all mod cons with a 6 kW Northern Lights generator, 2500 watt inverter-charger, 2 reverse cycle air conditioners, full nav suite, etc., etc. We converted instantaneously, although at the cost of  a very much more complicated electrical system. The AT follows the PT's example. In terms of machinery, although I liked the maneuverability of the twin-engined President, I didn't care for the cramped engine room and additional maintenance. It took a few weeks to learn to "back-and-fill" on the single engine PT, and that technique together with the OEM bow thruster and the inherent reliability of diesels converted me permanently to single-engine boats. The PT has a Cummins 220, the AT a Cummins 330 - great engine, different configurations. Another friend has a PT with a Cummins 4 cylinder (140 hp?) and it moves along just as well as mine did, so the 220 is overkill, and the 330 even more so because I never drive at 17 knots. One of the items way down on my agenda is to determine if I can de-rate the 330 easily. As to your specific reference to fuel cost, it is, of course, the smallest expense  of boat ownership, but becoming more significant every day. When I bought the PT it was described as an 8 knot boat and I drove it as such. It had Flo-Scan meters on both helms so the fuel burn was obvious. Since I'm a firm believer that cruising is all about the journey rather than the destination I'm rarely in a hurry even though that goes against my basic nature. I kept good records on the trips to Ocean Falls and around Vancouver Island. For the former, I averaged 8 knots, for the latter 6.3. The reduction in boat speed meant more time running, but that was irrelevant to the trip, and arguably made it all the more enjoyable, and certainly more peaceful. What was staggering was that despite the extra hours required to make the same distance, a 26.4% reduction in speed produced a 25% reduction in fuel consumption for the same distance traveled. At today's prices, that's worth more than $500. Some will leap in to say that such a slow speed will cause premature engine problems if not failure. To that I would respond that so long as the normal operating temperature and oil pressure are always maintained and the engine is loaded through a good run of 15-20 minutes at the end of the day, all will be well. But, I suppose, when all is said and done, the perfect boat is the next boat... Cheers, Garrett Richard wrote, "Too bad you've been lurking, I've always enjoyed your posts. Personally, I'd like to know how you "matured" over the years in your search for the perfect boat. If I remember well, you had a President for a while, then switch to another boat (more room for 2, less for 4, or the other way around ?), and now an American Tug. What were your criterias years ago and what are they now ? I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with gallons per hour..." Hi Richard