How Many Feet?
 

I have been a lake guy in a 21' Daytona for years,"20". I want to move out to the Ocean. How many feet do I need? a 35' boat seems huge. But is that the minumum? I Like the 29 footers, bbut is this to small? I want to trailer to the lkes too.

What ocean would you be spending your time in?

There is no minimum. I've seen people fishing from a 14 ft aluminum boat in the Northeast, however, the smaller the boat, the more aware you need to be of the weather and wave conditions. I used to boat in the Pacific out of Newport in a 22' Avanti (same hull design as Pantera/Superboat/etc.) and it was awesome some days and I wouldn't even go past the breakwater others. Now I have a 28 Cigarette and boat in the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay and I've never been out when it was too rough and had to turn back. Granted, the Pacific is a whole different animal.
28'ish is a nice size for me and will handle some very rough water if it's the right boat. I know theres a lot of 28's built that look like offshore boats but are really built for lakes.
Rule # 1: the ocean will kick your azz if it wants to no matter what size boat you're in so respect it, and plan well.

28 29 footer will be fine.

There are a few 28 Active thunders for sale.

I'm on the eastcoast, about 30 miles south of Boston. Like Dangerous says it doesn't matter what size your in, you just have to respect the ocean. The weather here can be calm and nice in the morning, then the afternoon winds kick up. We are in a 24' so it's not bad, just have to go slower. We also plan our days if it's gonna blow we trailer elsewhere. During the week we go out after work, 6ish or so and it's great. I woundn't trade it for anything, the salt air is the best. Plus we have 10 lobster traps so it's like Christmas everytime we check them:D
All in all my next boat will be closer to 30 for comfort.

Exactly.

On the perfect day, a 16' boat is fine. But when the seas turn on you, it's never enough.

I've gone out before when the bay and gulf were like a sheet of glass, only to return an hour later because the seas whipped up into a 5' washing machine mess.

The more you have, the better your chances. A comfortable size is probably no less than 28 feet. I used to feel very insignificant in my 25 on rough days, now in my 35 I feel much more secure.

I agree with Cig Daze we had a 272 and the rough days would beat you up. After moving to the 38, I am much happier in all but the largest seas but if you want true offshore performance I just got off the Liberty of the Seas which seemed to handle 15-20's just fine but at approx 1100' it might be a bit of a problem to trailer:D Good Luck in your search

John

I am on the west coast, so the pacific out or Newport and San Diego, Make run out to catalina island I hope, 26 miles of the coast.

why active thunder?

29 is easy to trailer but I can count many days when I'd rather be on a 38. Here on the east coast , I can easily run the ocean from here in jersey to nyc and long island and south on calm days but when the wind kicks up I get beat up pretty good. After a run to long island a couple years back all the other boats were calling us the wallenda brothers! I always pray for smooth seas!!!!!