Marlow 65 vs Alaskan 68

[x2y3z4]

We are getting to closer to our liveaboard adventure. Our timeline is to open a bottle of champagne end of 2021 onboard "our" vessel.
We do plan to cruise the Caribbean, East coast (up the St. Lawrence) & West coast (up to Alaska) plus Europe may be incl. crossing via Iceland.

After inspecting a bunch of boats since 2019 we are getting to the finals:
Marlow 65 / C18
Alaskan 68 / C12


Any experienced suggestions?

 

[BandB]

We are getting to closer to our liveaboard adventure. Our timeline is to open a bottle of champagne end of 2021 onboard "our" vessel.
We do plan to cruise the Caribbean, East coast (up the St. Lawrence) & West coast (up to Alaska) plus Europe may be incl. crossing via Iceland.

After inspecting a bunch of boats since 2019 we are getting to the finals:
Marlow 65 / C18
Alaskan 68 / C12


Any experienced suggestions?

Surveys obviously critical. The Marlow should outrun the Alaskan but the Alaskan likely is better in rough seas. For the Marlow I'd need to know the location and even then no way to be sure but there are Marlow's out there that are great and others that the builder and others keep trying to resell but which had initial cavitation and/or leaning issues that were never resolved. Basically some great but also some factory defective ones in the market. So, just be careful, take a long sea trial, get a thorough survey.

 

[FF]

"We do plan to cruise the Caribbean, East coast (up the St. Lawrence) & West coast (up to Alaska) plus Europe may be incl. crossing via Iceland."

Regardless of the vessel, its usually best to voyage or cruise with the wind and current.

 

[CaptainK]

We have an Alaskan 56 and are very happy with the boat. We have C7s, and I wouldn't want any bigger engines in this boat. There really is no point -- unless you really don't mind opening up the flood gates on fuel cost (and much shorter range). Then again, you're talking about a 68-foot boat, versus our 60 feet.