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.

[Luke Tuccini]

It's all about weather and your planning for possible disaster?
Have plans ahead for - dead battery, buried hook in face, violent seasickness, severe sunburn, or frostbite, forgetting food, drink, license, favorite lures, or rods, reels, falling asleep and tangling lines, getting lost in fog- plan for it now - we've done all the above. Get lost in fog once, and suddenly, you'll remember prayers from when you were little.
Start saving now for a larger screen graph - with good MAP and GPS. Get a decent glass waterproof compass. You can catch lots of huge fish, but if you don't make it home, oh well?
Quality life jackets, well equipped first aid kits, extra keys, layers of clothes, rain gear, footwear, fully charged multiple phones.
Learn weather apps - Windy, AccuWeather, Great Lakes Buoy info apps, etc. Save to home screen and check regularly.
Start in early spring or late summer. Fish early or late in day for possible best chances close to pierheads.
Stay closer to shore for the first few trips before heading out deeper.
Attend Coast Guard boating class with buddy.
Sorry for the length - most importantly, it's supposed to be fun!


Sent from my SM-S918U using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

[FBD]

Oh man that brings back memories.

Solo in the 14' out of Holland back in the three king era.  Run south it's calm like sticky humid August calm get a fish and it starts getting hazy, get another fish and now it's like 100' visibility.  Stay on the south troll I'm in 70-80' all of a sudden out of the fog my main fishing buddy trolls past north bound.  Blips me on the radio and says he thought I was out of Holland and I'm like I am and he's like well we're way south of Saugatuck.

Check GPS it agrees but I'm like this is BS.  Keep on my south troll bang my last king point it east and motor up right into Pier Cove.  

Oh.  Crap.  

I forgot that a 9mph loaded up boat, with only me in it is more like a 17 mph boat and was way further south than I thought after running the usual amount of time before dropping in.

6 gallon tank.

Well I can go into Saugatuck try to find a marina and buy gas in a 14' which I'm sure will be a laugh.  I can go into Saugatuck have the wife pick me up but that's like Defcon 6 conditions.

Or I can troll back up the beach and hope for a lost brown or steelhead but I don't have gas to run 10 miles WOT.

4 hours 4 very tiring hours later I get back to Holland.  Not a hit.

Put 5.3 gallons in a six gallon tank.

[Luke Tuccini]

Wow. After reading some of the posts to my wife and fishing partner, she suggests to post Get Tow Insurance. Boat Owners Association of the United States.

So cheap for what it provides and could easily save your life out there. 

[Play Dough]

You can safely venture on any body of water with nearly anything that floats.  That said, should you?  It wouldn't be my advice to venture out onto Lake Michigan in that boat other than within a mile or so of a port on "bluebird" days.  There are days you can cross the lake in that but if/when things go wrong, they go terribly wrong in a hurry.  That can be large craft wakes (you don't have a lot of freeboard), mechanical breakdown, weather/fog, etc.