I see this often, and would never consider doing it myself. On a perfect day we have taken the 24' bay boat to the 8 mile rigs, which is still what I consider "coastal", but I wouldn't even do that run in anything smaller. 99% of the time nothing will go wrong. That 1% is what you have to worry about and prepare for. Ive been out enough times in bigger boats and had summer squalls pop up and get beat up, I would never want to do that in a small boat. Also, if you are going in a bay boat with a single motor, I would strongly consider adding a kicker. You know that feeling when your heart just sinks when you try to crank it and something goes wrong on the water? Or you are running and something craps out? Imagine that miles from shore. That VHF on channel 16 might save your life, but a kicker definitely makes things seem less life or death.
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