[Basspond]

Aside from the whole redundant bilge pump discussion, whenever you are fishing offshore, in the northeast especially where the water is cooler and you are running farther distances than our southern friends, it is a good idea to have a raft on the boat.

I used to fish my 20 SF 30-40 miles off on nice days here in NJ without a raft and didn't think much of it. Now as you get older and a little wiser I don't go offshore without a raft in the boat. I have my epirb/plb, raft, hand held vhf, and a lot of my friends are going with sat phones as well now due to the long distances we fish. You don't even need to buy one yourself, find a friend that has one that you can borrow, or just let them fish with you for free [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]