Buying an offshore boat by Wayne Kampe

This article is the first in a series designed to make things easy for the angler keen to own a boat for a particular style of fishing: in this case, heading offshore for a crack at the big stuff.
Obviously, an offshore rig needs to have very specific features for work out on the ocean and we'll look at them in detail shortly, but let's first start with towing.
Safe towing is vital and it's important to have a favourable margin between the weight of the chosen craft and the tow capacity of a vehicle. While it's pretty easy to tow anything, stopping becomes the issue. Car manufacturers provide tow capacities and boaters should always consider full fuel loads, topped up eskies, and everything else carried in the boat on the day to ensure those specs are not exceeded.
The next move is to give some thought to where the boat will be kept...