re: Taking 22 ft Center Console Offshore?

I do it pretty regularly in a 24' bay boat. Mine is about as good a single screw bay boat as you can get for doing it and we've gone pretty damn far in it a few times and had some really fun trips. There's days when the only factor is how much gas you have and you can go really far in a bass boat, but those are few and far between. The most important thing is getting experience out there before you bail 25 miles out on your own. It's not super dangerous if you have your head screwed on straight, you aren't 1000 miles out in the pacific or anything.

- the boat has to be as seaworthy as possible. Working bilge pumps, all safety equipment functional, good VHF radio, etc. The most important thing is that the engine is trustworthy and proven reliable. The farther away you get the more important this becomes.

- the captain has to be as seaworthy as possible. If you have no open water experience, bring someone who does and learn from them. Don't just go out there tying off to rigs with no previous experience doing it and don't run 40 miles out your first time.

- the weather has to be good. A 2' gulf storm chop in a bay boat is brutal. 4's is very dangerous. Dont let the purple stuff get between you and the trailer. There will be days when you fish very little or none and have to turn it around and make a speck fishing day out of it. It's damn hard to do when it isn't bad yet, you're where you want to be, put the money and effort into getting there. Gotta be willing to tell everyone to reel em up and try again another day.