Many thanks for those comments Benn and for the link to MV Lifeline. Sue's articles on setting up Lifeline are a great help. I was in Tassie recently and noted a few lovely looking cray boats there. A good line of thought. Your boat certainly seems to be a similar type to Lifeline but probably from a Brisbane background?
I rather like the separate pilot house of the Krogen designs and was made aware of this feature by Beebe in his book. There is a very similar design from Benford featured in the book that even has full standing headroom in the engine room of a 44 footer! I have searched the internet and haven't been able to find a version of this boat, although his firm offers plans for it. But I'm too old to build from scratch. I am quite surprised at the relatively low price of boats in the US and 42' Krogens 1984-6 models around US$150,000 I can afford. Mind you, our strong dollar helps.
As a matter of interest, you may like to look at a boat I saw in NZ recently, MV Fair Lady, also featured in Beebe. I nearly did a loop when I spotted it at the marina in Wellington and contacted the owner to find it is for sale. Too big and too dear for me but a great boat. It is detailed in
http://www.nzboatsales.com/listings/...nt-launch.aspx The owner told me it was brought to NZ on its bottom. Has an interesting history.
Thanks again for your interest and will keep in touch,
Regards,
Doug