Late to the party on this one and Schwendy, it sounds like you got your questions answered. If it helps, we did a 514PC charter last fall. Experienced boaters, but first time on a cat of any kind. Overall, it was one of the easiest boats I've ever operated – even being a 4X,000lb machine. 51' LOA and 25' beam is quite a sight picture from the helm, but you'll get used to it quickly. That you were comfortable with the 433PC, I'd say you have nothing (at all) to worry about on the 514. All the Moorings had us do was the boat briefing – no on-water checkout. Don't know if it was our resume or whether they gained confidence during the boat briefing, but we spent about two hours asking 1000 questions and getting familiar with systems...and off we went. You'll absolutely love the boat – so much room that 8 of us never felt on top of each other at all. It carries 260 gallons of fresh water in three tanks...with 8 of us taking Navy showers and being reasonable with usage, we refilled just once during the week – if that helps your planning. Since we were new to cats, one point I thought was interesting if fuel burn is important to you... We typically cruised at 2,000 RPM which yielded about 9.5kts and 7 GPH total, if I recall. Once away from docks and anchorages, cruising on one engine at that RPM brought the SOG back to 8-8.5kts. At that RPM, the boat was very economical to begin with and dropping the fuel burn (almost) in half while only losing about a knot is a great trade-off – again, if saving a little diesel matters to your group. P.S. The breaker for the windlass is under the galley sink :-) Feel free to DM me if I can share any other info. You'll have a great trip!