I have fished the last 5 years out of my 17' Crestliner. I've been in 5+ footers, which wasn't fun and kinda scary but managed. If you just bounce along properly you'll be fine. Gotta take it slow (sometimes 9 mph sometimes I can go 15 mph) if the waves get big and just bounce thru them. Now, I've done this 100 times so I'm used to it. I've been stuck out in 7 footers before and had to play the throttle at times to get the bow up so a big one wouldn't come over the top. 3 footers - you should be fine if you have a deep V....