What's at least better than an inflatable??

[elgrindio]

Ok, so the only experience that I have on the ocean in a kayak is on an inflatable Sea Eagle 330. My brother and I have been out several times fishing, and a couple of times we went pretty far (maybe 2+ miles? It FEELS pretty far in a kayak! . We felt pretty confident as far as bouyancy, but I'm thinking of trying to get a hard shell down here(I live in Ecuador, S.America). I have read reviews and looked at pics on the net to ad nauseum, but it's hard to get a feel for something from other people's reviews. I get the impression that they are much more demanding than I would be.

Basically, I want a hardshell sit-on-top for a few reasons:

Since we're talking about fishing, I don't want to worry about poking the stupid thing with a Rapala and drowning in the middle of the ocean like an idiot!

I want to have a hard surface to mount a fishfinder and a rod holder or two. (Not a lot of gear.I'll be keeping it pretty simple.)

I would like a hatch to be able to keep some of my gear dry while I launch.

Basically, I just want to know how simple of a kayak I could get(read here: "how little $$ I could spend) and have the performance be just a little better than my inflatable. Also, what do you guys feel is the minimum length to be safe on the open ocean?

I get the impression that a lot of guys might be extra critical of the cheaper yaks cause they're not as good as their $$$ OK T15 (or whatever. Not raggin' on anybody that has one of those, just jealous:-)! I will NOT be making such comparisons. It just has to impress me more than an inflatable! How long of a hull do you think I need, and how cheap do you think I can get away with?

Thanks guys!