Undoubtedly, many factors complicate this question, but can some reasonable estimate be proposed? Let's say a recreational boater in Florida starts out on a day in May with a full tank, ends the day with 3/4 tank, then does not run the engine for a month. It would have been wise to have filled the tank at the end of the day, but that didn't happen.

What is the rought estimate of the expected fuel burn? We have (1800/2000) = 0.9 and 0.9 x 0.9 x 0.9 = 0.729 and 0.729 x 200 = 143.8 HP in cruise. Fuel burn would be approximately 143.8HP/230HP x 11.5GPH = 7.19 GPH @ 1800 RPM. Hope this clarifies it. John

Experts say that more than 90 percent of the estimated eight million military and commercial GPS receivers will experience no difficulties.

After what was estimated at about 20 minutes, the husband returned to the flybridge. Not finding his wife, he looked around the boat thinking she may have moved below and he just missed her. No such luck. Panic set in and he moved to the VHF to put out a call to the fellow boaters and hit the MOB button.

Folks often over-estimate the differences in weight between the 2-strokes and 4-strokes, and sometimes forget the weight of the fuel in the overall weight equation. -- Jh Nimble Nomad SF Bay & Delta

BSB estimates an even higher number of chart kits are pirated. So what should they do? This way both the Passport Charts and the VNS program are locked into a serial number system. Nobeltec is extremely lenient in allowing additional install capability beyond the two provided. You just have to come up with a good reason to get more unlock codes.

Diesel fuel, by the way, is lighter -- I use a rough estimate of 7 pounds per gallon. We vary 12,000 pounds for both from fully dry to fully wet, so it's interesting to know these numbers, if only roughly. For displacement speeds an inch or two of waterline change makes no noticeable difference in speed or fuel consumption for us.

This is the number used to estimate and size a system. For those people who do stay longer in one place, running some sort of engine for a minimum number of hours does become a necessity. That should be the focus of the next generation of power sources. cheers Arild

>Bob Kassal >Chateau de Mer > A while back I had Bob Wise (877-845-4730) give me an estimate of a paint job for our boat.

I can tell you from first hand experience: It won't work, It was your fault, It will take 3 times as long to do as they originally estimate, It will cost 10 times more than originally quoted, You will never see anything until it is all done, When it is all done you'll see it isn't what you asked for, Your going to still have to pay for it, They'll want to