The SS Minnow was a 1964 Wheeler M/Y with a LOA of 38.6ft and powered by a single 230hp Detroit Diesel with a dry weight of 20,600 lbs. With a displacement style hull she had a cruising speed of 9 knots, which means they only could have traveled 27 nautical miles outbound from Honolulu during the duration of their 3 hour tour (excluding return trip and no wake zone). Figuring in a 3 knot storm drift USCG search grids would only have been about 150 square miles and fairly easy to rescue.
Now I’m starting to doubt if this whole documentary was even real.