Hi Mark,
late at night here and I'm coming off of a month of 18hr work days (7 days a week... I design and develop prototypes... my own company), but I'll give it a try:
Probably the first thing that pops up is the interior layout in a boat that's only 30'... It's just the two of us, kids are grown. We wanted smaller, but also wanted creature comforts and the interior seems very "open" giving a sense of more space than there probably is. Neither of us is into racing, so speed is not an issue and although I understand these are not slow boats, I also hear they are certainly no racers. We're more into the travel than the sailing (Don't get me wrong! We LOVE sailing! But for us, being "out there" is more about visiting new places and exploring. We're happy to wait at anchor for a favorable weather window to make a distance work time-wise. We're not into passage making, but rather "gunk holing". The aft cabin/berth is nice to have separate from the main cabin and looks much roomier than the V-Berth we've been sleeping in! LOL!. Funny that we both also agree that the large size of the head along with a shower and yes "tub" definitely falls into the creature comfort category. LOL! Definitely going to have to add more water tankage! Although the high free-board from the center cockpit will have it's performance drawbacks, we love the comfort of a center cockpit. The S2 reputation is good: laid up glass, left in the molds during inserting interior moldings and tabbed bulkhead fabrication helps create a much stiffer boat. Ventilation from quite a few opening port-lights and twin hatches will help in heat...
There's a few things I definitely want to change like adding more freshwater tankage, Engel freezer where the navigation seat is (Planning to build a pull out seat under the supported freezer... Again, I design and build 'stuff" for a living (
www.jareldesign.com), solar to compliment all our electronics... (I installed 200watts solar on our C26 for our recent San Juan trip and it was incredible never having to worry about power (2 laptops, several cameras including video, watching DVDs, stereo, home made 12 volt blender, etc...
I guess after rambling here, our number one draw to this boat has to be the interior layout and space on a small (30') boat... Our intended cruising grounds are the ICW, New England to the keys, Bahamas, gulf coast and maybe more. Were fine with a night or two out to get to somewhere we want to visit, but we're through with our blue water days and this boat just seems to fit the bill.
Hope this helps? Would sure love to hear from others who have this boat and what their experiences have been.
Best,
Richard