Safety on Okeechobee (Questions of course!)

Pat, Lamar, Moe... I'd like some questions answered about Okeechobee please.

1: At what point does the winds speed begin to really make the lake nasty?
15mph? 20, 25?
2: I noticed some places *on my map* where the water went to about 2', kinda
out in the middle of no-where. Is this something to worry about, or will we
be fine running on plane pretty much anywhere there is open water?
3: How many gators are there really? I mean, are they something that we'll
have to be continually aware of, or should we just ignore that possibility?
4: How deep are the rim canals and are they mainly used for boating traffic?
5: How deep is the Kissimmee River channel, and how far up is navagational?
6: Buoys?

Please fell free to add to this list, thing we really need to know.

My main concern is bottoming out on one of those shallow areas. How can I
avoid that?

--
Charles B. Summers
Secret Weapon Lures
http://www.secretweaponlures.com