With that kind of budget and the desire for quality, you should be looking at used and well kept Cobalts and Bryants. Volvo and Merc make reliable drives, they both use the same engines in their packages, and there's plenty of mechanics and dealers of both brands in the area, so I would not sweat the power brand. Aim for the biggest engine for a given boat.
My choice would be a Cobalt 226 or 246 with an 8.1 engine and duo prop/bravo 3
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