Is my boat ok to take out on thunder bay

[snappertight]

Wanting to catch salmon not sure how far out I would have to go. I have a 17 ft allweld with a modified v and a 25 hp tiller.

I've never been on the great lakes even though I've lived in michigan most of my life.

[FBD]

Do you have all the required safety gear?  And do you know how to use it?

I fish a 14' Deep V with a 15 horse on Lake Michigan all the time but I also have about 7000 hours on the lake.  We took a newbie out this year along with my middle daughter and it was a bit sporty the newbie wasn't too thrilled then he looked at my daughter who was just on her phone paying no mind.  I told him he had no need to be worried until I got worried, but if I got worried, he should be terrified...

[snappertight]

Don't have any safety equipment besides a life vest what would you recommend.

 

[FBD]

Look up the laws for your local jurisdiction and go from there.

Also just knowing how to drive a boat in inclement weather is something you should research.  When I bought my 22’ we took it out in Lake Michigan in April in nasty 4-6’ chop.  Brought my friend who ran a similar boat.  The boat owner was absolutely mortified we cleared the channel my buddy dropped in the trough dialed in the trim and it rip then started slicing over waves like nothing.

 

I carry on my 14’:

A bilge pump.  Hand held VHF.  EPIRB.  Air horn.  Flare kit.  Fire extinguisher.  Throwable PDF on a 100’ rope.  Danforth anchor with 200’ more rope.  Recall your rode for anchoring should be 7:1 so 300’ is rope is still not enough in some circumstances.  Danforth as it’s mostly sand bottom where I fish.  A sea anchor to keep the bow into the wind of everything goes to hell.  A tool kit with spare spark plugs and other common engine parts.

I’ve had a buddy sink a boat without a life jacket on (Dave Mull, Google it) and hug a cooler for four hours until rescued.  I’ve done grid searches to look for people, responded to maydays, and recovered corpses on two occasions.  Not much fun tying a dead guy to your swim platform.

[FBD]

 

 

Youth tournament in the 22’ on a day we should have stayed in close instead of riding the waves out to 200’.

Then a fun trip in December fishing the trough in waves we could not see out between in the 14’.  Turning around and having to buck those for a few wave sets until we got back into the trough was amusing.