Another couple of “essentials” I have are specific to a boat’s design. People don’t think much about this stuff until confronted with it. The galley layout is important. If you’re aboard at anchor in remote areas you’re going to need a functional galley. What this entails is adequate space to keep and use cookware securely in preparing meals, even if the boat is moving about some. These newer models, like the ones you mention, often skimp on this part. There should be room (surface area) for two people to work together in or near the galley. This work space has to be fitted in around the stove, sinks, and the refrigerator access.
One metric is that there is at least enough space to lay down, flat, two cutting boards in the galley work area, each accessible so two can work at the same time, not in each other’s way. They don’t have to be very big. The second is that there is cabinetry of sufficient size and dimension to keep accessible the cookware you will typically use. Think about what you will be fixin’ out there, but don’t think gourmet. Think mostly “one-pot meals” with minimal “steps.” So you’ll need the pots. They must be deep enough to cook and hold the meal, so the cabinet shelving has to be vertically spaced high enough for them to fit in, etc. Stackable (camp style) pots permit a very efficient use of space, but you’ll need other as well. A week-long charter will reveal the needs here. There are, of course, many configurations that will work well enough; you can get by with ‘em. But you want each to permit efficient use. This is not like working in the kitchen at home, etc.
The other is “bunk/berth” length. Not in the sleeping cabins, but in the salon and in the cockpit. I’m kinda short so a bunk of six ft is long enough for me to stretch out in the salon to snooze or rest. Likewise in the cockpit. It has to be straight. So, the fancy “curved” seating areas as in apartment living-room furniture don’t work. You sometimes see this in sailboat cockpits; it is typical of powerboats. A flat, straight, cockpit seat six feet long, or nearly, fits the bill if you wish to rest or sleep in the cockpit. This is sometimes critical for crew who feel too sick or nauseous to go below and need to lay down. You don’t want them on the cockpit floor, etc.
