We have considered Carver, Silverton and Meridians. They are spacious, faster and seem to be more available. We are thinking they may not have the durability to last another 10 years coastal cruising and an occasional cruise to the Bahamas – in time. Primary consideration is galley workability and stores storage.
Wouldn't worry about Silvertons; owners in the club seem to be happy with 'em, and don't seem to mention any special durability problems that any boat wouldn't have. Condition as previously maintained would be the key point.
You might check out this blog for a read on withstanding difficult seas; the boat apparently did better than the people:
Captain's Blog Stardate 2009: Terror on the high seas.
And I expect Carvers are just a Silverton-equivalent designed and built by a different company. A Ford, to the other Chevy. Dunno so much about Meridian, but many folks here have been happy with their Bayliner predecessors.
Just speaking of the aft-cabin models in the 40-50' range that you've mentioned...
I'm not drawn to the styling of the more current Silvertons aft-cabin models, but the 39MY and the 43MY both have very decent space inside and the owners seem to like them very much. The slightly earlier 453s are huge, but visibility aft sucks, IMO. Not unworkable, but I didn't care for that.
The previous -- late '90s, maybe early 2000s -- 46MY looks equally huge, slightly more traditional in styling, and may offer better aft visibility, although I haven't been on one. One of the club members owns one, seems to be happy with it. I think there was a similar 41MY, too. They made a cockpit/aft-cabin model sometime, 422 CPMY I think; not many made, so not sure how many (if any) might be available at any given time.
Not meant as recommendations; just observations...
-Chris