Is my boat big enough for Lake Erie?

[TannerH.Fishing]

I have a 15 ft rinker built tri haul and was wondering if it was big enough to be safe to take out on the lake?

[lineman49]

 Pick your days & watch the weather & wave heights.  Should be good to go!

[yankmyline]

Trihulls are terrible in waves.

[dwiese77]

When there little to no wind you would be ok. If you're asking I'm guessing you're not very experienced so be conservative. Forecasts can be deceiving.

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[Smoke-n-Finn]

Tri hull and Safe shouldn't be used in same sentence.

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[dukhnter8]

Take the bouy reports and multiply by 2, but pick your days and you should be able to get out. I used to do it in a narrow beam 16 ft. Also eastern end of the lake takes a day to calm down after the wind dies.

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[meangreencj7]

I used to do it is a 13ft tri hull, just pick your days like eveyone else said, (my 13ft tri hull was safer than my 18ft boat I have now, can't fill it to the top with water and have it float, but my 13ft boston whaler would.)

[jimski2]

In cold water conditions hypothermia will kill you just like drowning. Most new boats are built with level floatations foam under the deck and gunwales.


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[Dmd113]

yes if you watch wave reports & be smart about it! When in doubt, stay home!

[Puking Dog]

I fished Lake Erie for many years in a 16 foot Browning tri-hull but only went out in SE wind or wind from normal directions if it was under 10 mph. Mine was an bow rider and I leaned that keeping the bow cover snapped  on was a must when the waves start getting above 3 feet. I dove the bow under a wave once in 4 footers and it scared the poop out of me. Lot of water came in the boat and I had no bilge pump. Bought and installed one before I went out again. My current boat has 2 bilge pumps , just in case. That Browning was a super stable boat but loved to slash water up in the air when running fast and the wind would always spray back into your face. That's why I sold it when I could afford to upgrade. No more open bows for me. Most new boats on the market now are dual consoles or center consoles. No thanks, I'd rather be dry. I just don't get the DC fad. Open bow is nice to get to your planer board mast if you have one, but that's about the only advantage unless you fish small lakes like Chautauqua for bass or calicos. Even Chautauqua will get you wet if it's breezy.