You fish what you have or what you can afford.
We started fishing offshore in the mid-70s in 20', then 21', then 23' center consoles. We moved up to a 31' Bertram. If you fished hard, the ride was tough on the people on every one of those. We'd fish on the weekends and feel good by the next Wednesday.
Out of our group that fished together, I have two new hips and a bad back. I am paying for those trips in the little boats almost every day. The others have new knees, new hips, and bad backs. They are paying too.
We have paid the price of fishing small, light boats offshore but we fished. But that's what we had at the time.