There are scary boats out there, spade rudders, flat transomes, windage, strange centers of gravity-But excluding what I call BDUs, Big Dumb and Uglies, the floating condos that are best tied up to the dock, The Most important/weakest part of a cruising boat is the crew, Boats abandoned in stressful situations often recovered in perfect shape, crewless- I am happily married for 25 years to my sweetie I discovered her in a Marina parking lot, she had a boat, I had a boat, now we have a boat together-and several cruising boats boats before that. We cruise and take a balance between the dirt dwelling and the boat. I had been an advocate of the "sell the house" live aboard-see the world approach-still have the wanderlust. She on the other hand is more grounded. The way it has been working out for the past few years is that -we go, I go, she catches up, we go back home together for a break. >From a strutural perspetive, I have long belived that you should not own a boat that can not be singlehanded, crew impaired, missing, unable, the boat for safteys sake should be configured for a single operator.This allows me to go-even if she is resisting. The social/relationship part of cruising has been more difficult than the mechanical side of cruising-squeezing a 1000 pound engine, into its space is easier than a storm and simpler than "hurt feelings" by your loved one. I also get into the gearhead side of T&T and PUP, However, I also feel that a void of inputs from our loved ones. They are a critical component to passagemaking-and I would encourage their inputs. Kevin Kearney Joel Ann Todd Trawler Jolie