You can't go wrong with an alumaweld, they have been building sleds as long as anyone and haven't changed their hulls much for years. I have an 18ft super vee and I love it, I will go bigger someday but for now it works good. A lot of my friends own super vees and from what I know they all will work great in the big water but for some reason when it comes to free drifting everyone says buy an 18 or 23 ft the others don't float quite right. I would guess the right motor would make all the difference in those boats. But with any open sled you will need raingear in rough water even if its sunny out. Someday's I've stayed out longer than anyone at astoria because the boat feels pretty stable but than you finally call it quits and wish you would have left earlier. I've ran mine in little as 4in of water but thats the point when you skip a little.Nothin wrong with a little love tap though. Call 3 rivers for the whole story.