1976mako20,
If you have come here to read and learn, I suggest you take jwinner's advice (post #13) and look at the Helmsman 38 (
http://www.helmsmantrawlers.com/38-pilothouse/) AKA Mariner Seville 37 Pilothouse. I'm very familiar with the AT34 and NT37, both built in my area, and I wouldn't consider for a second to trade my boat for either of these. I'll give you a couple of reasons:
Compare the pilothouse. In my boat I have a L shape settee that has a useable table. Perfect place for morning coffee with a nice view outside. This is the second "L" settee, the other is in the salon. I don't know if you like to sit up straight when reading a book but as the AT34 and NT 37 only have one "L" settee, either you or your wife is not going to be able to semi recline when reading your favorite book. My boat also has room for a recliner for a third place to recline on the boat, something neither of these boats have. My wife likes to recline in the salon and I like to do same in the pilothouse. Its like having 2 separate rooms.
The pilothouse on the Helmsman 38 is comparable to that of a boat 10 feet longer with the "L" settee, nice size table and has a very comfortable helm seat that you could sit on for hours.
Access to the engine room is either through a door in the second head or through a hatch in the pilothouse. While it is crawl room only, checking the engine while underway is very simple using this door. The AT34 and NT37 engine room access is only by lifting a hatch and while the hatch is open the engine noise comes into the boat and it is a hole for someone to fall though. There is very little increase in noise in the pilothouse when my engine room door is open.
Oh, and the second head. Did I tell you there is a second head off the salon for guests or the wife if she doesn't like that you never lift the toilet seat? Nice to have.
Access to the huge flybridge (which is standard) is off either pilothouse side door with real stairs to get up there rather than a ladder that takes away from the cockpit.
My boat has been to Alaska 2 years ago and we made it from Seattle to Ketchikan on one tank of fuel. According to my log, that was 982 nm. We cruise at 1600 RPM and make about 7.5 knots burning 2.4 gal/hr and we carry 400 gallons of fuel.
All this room comes at a cost of not having walkarounds however my previous boat was a Defever 45 pilothouse that had great walkarounds but we quickly learned to just go through the boat to get to the cockpit. It is also very easy to exit the boat from the pilothouse side door with a mid-ship line.
On all our cruises in the 4 years I have owned this boat, we constantly have people coming up to us on the dock admiring the boat and wondering who the manufacturer is. They all say the boat is very big for only 37/38 feet.
Just to make it clear, I have no affiliation with Helmsman, I just think the boat is so much better than every other boat in this size range. The Krogan 39 is the one exception and I would trade my boat for one if it had stabilizers.
Just one more thing to avoid confusion, the Helmsman 38 was first produced under the name Mariner Seville 37 Pilothouse so if you are searching Yachtworld, use both names. The Helmsman name is about 2 years old.
Hope this helps more than confuses...
Ron