looking for 40'-ish stylish wide, low motorboat designs.

I remember seeing a particular boat moored somewhere in Sausalito, CA that really caught my eye as the Coolest Boat in the Harbor.

About 40+', semi-retro styling (dark blue hull, white on top, natural wood and a tasteful red stripe somewhere, with relatively small super-structure (less than 1/3 of boat length) set amidships, with wide walk-ways on each side.

Fairly low free board (very low compared to typical floating condos) and huge open cockpit that looked about 12'x12'.

The impression was similar to what one gets from a 'full size' luxury coup. No effort to squeeze anything into any space, or to 'get more for your money'. Looked like a Personal Boat that just turned out to be as big as it was without compromising anything.

Had an almost menacing "all business" or gangster look to it. The big wide low hull and the small low super structure seemed to channel the "lead sled" or "chop top" school of hyper styling, but it looked perfectly natural and exactly right on this boat.

Can't find any pics of anything similar. Any help?

 

Hinckley Talaria 40

 

More lower, almost monitor low freeboard, and no curves on the superstructure, and no fore-structure, just a big open deck maybe some skylight hatches. Maybe some port-hulls on the hull. Maybe a flybridge.

Definitely an enclosed superstructure.

Might have been 50'.

 

lower? and what about downflooding?
or is it for the swimming pool
Like the look of these so called Picnic Boats, but could be very dangerous in offshore conditions with the hug cockpits they have

 

Have you looked at Phil Bolger's Wyoming? It does have a low profile with an enclosed house.

EDIT: I forgot to respond to you wanting a beamier boat ... Or rather I assumed the option of making it wider. (/Captain Obvious is obvious)

I've played around with the basic form a bit to see if the superstructure can afford a more Art-Deco look with an open (ragtop for bad weather) flybridge and given a bunch more length, pushing 65' while still narrow and shallow draft, the Wyoming's hull scales up nicely and remains low profile relative to length while still affording gobs of headroom inside ... though weight from accommodations is a real question if it could be pulled off as shallow as I've presently drawn it.

Aside: at this time the key to the styling is what I call "bow jazz", or a set of three projecting rub rails (one above the other) that are meant to give the impression of flare where there is none (only one of which, the top, runs the length of the boat), and a sheer with a drooping "chine" aft to make it look like she has tumblehome. The superstructure blends aft to help reinforce this and all was inspired by John Hacker's Posh (her present name).

Of course I freely admit that Posh is far, far more handsome than what I've so far come up with ... but I'm intentionally working on the premise of what has been called "instant boat" construction.

 

Side profile sorta like this, but just as beamy, opulent and muscle-boat as this one is slender, spare and efficient.

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww58/Siberian11/Tlingit-1.jpg

Half height fly bridge so you stand/sit on a platform about 1/2 between the cockpit and cabin roof at the rear of the cabin looking through a windshield.

 

Have you considered other William Garden boats? Captain Teach, for example, is larger than what you've indicated, isn't very wide (wider than Tlinglit though), and is somewhat low.