Where are the near shore reefs? Good sized fish out on those? Is there something else in that price range that would be better for fishing out there? Bass boat or something?
There are decent reefs 10-12 miles out. That was my reference to "near-shore." Pintos, triggers, sardinero, occasionally even big grouper. There are also reefs more in the 20 mile range north out of Cholla that are good producers. Then, there's a whole set of deep reefs in the 30-60 mile range out.
My logic for saying stick with the near-shore reefs with that boat is that if the wind comes up (and it can, without warning), you're going to get plenty beat in a boat that size. You don't want to be stuck with a 20+ miles run in that boat in bad weather. My boat is a 28 ft. cat and I've had plenty of cold, wet rides back in when the weather decided to suddenly change.
As was said earlier, you want a boat with a deep V hull, not a bass or flat bottom boat. There's no such thing as "swell" per se in the northern Sea of Cortez. Not like the Atlantic or Pacific. Instead, you have a large tidal change and if you get wind blowing in the opposite direction as the tide is moving, you get sharp-faced waves at a very short (2-3 second) interval that makes the best sport fishing boats out there slam and pound. It can be
very miserable and out-and-out dangerous.