As for the boat handling heavy seas, we are Great Lakes sailors and have been out there in some angry seas in Lake Michigan and Huron and the Sapphire seemed to handle the conditions nicely allowing us to be comfortable and dry, were they 30' walls of water, no, but angry they were, is the Sapphire a full keeled Swan absolutely not, her flat bottom aft and beaminess tend to provide some additional motion but at no time did we ever feel the boat couldn't handle it. I can contest that the righting moment of the Hunter 41DS is about 40 seconds (longest 40 seconds of my life), but the rig stayed standing, the boat righted and we returned to port with the same number of sailors as we left with.
We do have a thruster (6" tube/3.5 HP) on our Sapphire which was part of the Mariner package, it does help maneuver in tight spots but it will not move the bow against a cross wind so docking can be tricky given the additional free board these boat have.
We have an anchor sail (don't recollect by whom) which helps emmensely with the issue of swinging back and forth when at anchor.
The Selden roller furling main has a bearing at the top of the foil which requires annual lubrication, the issue is the bearing is not easily accessible especially with the rig up, one has to remove the mast head to access it, I plan on dropping the rig every second year to lubricate this bearing.
Improvement projects complete and on my list:
Convert batteries to series parallel 6 volt Trojans T105's (check)
Upgrade charging system to a Balmar 150A with Balmar external regulator (check)
Convert alternator V-belt drive to serpentine belt (check)
Remove engine belt guard to improve airflow over alternator (check)
Drop mast, dimantle furling system rebuild and lubricate (check)
Convert interior lights to LED (check)
Add the optional gas shock to the vang allowing for easier use (check)
Convert the loveseat in front of the nav station to a bench seat with lee cloth and partitioned storage underneath
Convert forward head to a wet locker (never use this head, not sure why a boat of 40' needs (2))
Find a method to bring the main sheet back to the helm, for a couple of reasons, most importantly to allow ready access when at the wheel, secondarily to reduce the resistance on the line so that downwind deployment is more easily accomplished.
If I were planning on cruising on the big water I would be changing a few things, like adding a water maker, adding additional fuel capacity (possibly repurposing one of the water tanks), changing the head to use seawater for flushing, add a "Y" valve to divert to overboard discharge (current system is a macerater pump which pulls from the waste tank),
We love our Sapphire, she is comfortable, seaworthy and easily sailed by the admiral and I, the small head sail makes for easy tacking and the roller furling main allows for endless adjustment of sail area.
Welcome to the SBO forums and hope this helps you.