did both, take the aft cabin
I have a 37' center cockpit-aft cabin and lived on a aft cockpit with a large salon. Try as I might, crawling all over in the AM, or whenever, to find stuff in a cave was a pain. And the sex part, with crew aboard, was worse than in my Dodge Caravan. Give me head room, please.Yes, it is nice to have more room, but, most sailboats are designed wrong anyway. Next to me was a 32' powerboat. Nice layout, lots of room. They slept in the bow, rarely left the dock. Further down was a 40'powerboat, with even less room on the interior, but a huge deck outside, which was used all summer. They too slept in the bow, and only left the dock to take the boat out of the water for the season. I sail, and camp out on the boat. I go to the Islands, Sandusky, Vermilion, Grand River...you get the picture. If it's nice, we stay right near the beach, on the notorious Lake Eriee. Sleeping in the aft cabin while underway is the best. It's quiet, except if only I could lock the prop shaft. On the aft cockpit, sleeping while underway reminded me of sleeping in a bowling alley. LOUD. Do you really need a bow berth? Not really. For me, it's a storage area. hope to open the bulkhead more and then it will seem like a bigger boat.