Welcome Neil,
My wife and I went through the same thing over the past couple years, culminating in our buying a trawler"ish" boat last year. Knees and back were what got me.
I much prefer a traditional style boat as well. However, I am allergic to work, particularly brightwork. Our sailboat is a Catalina 400 with no exterior teak and I love that. I ended up buying a North Pacific 43 with no exterior teak other than the teak ladder treads.
The NP43 was not a boat that appealed to me when I first looked at it. It does not have the more traditional styling that I was drawn to. However, folks here on TF got me thinking more about function that form and eventually we found that the NP43 was the perfect compromise for us.
Initially, coming from a lifetime of sailboat experience, I thought there were some things that I knew I wanted and didn't want. I wanted full walk-around decks and didn't want a flybridge. I ended up buying a boat that has a flybridge and doesn't have full walk-around decks.
My point is to not let your experience with sail hinder your ability to imagine what features and utility you may want in a power boat.