<How far along is David Ellis? When do you hope to launch? When do you expect to arrive in California? Why the name David Ellis? > Wow, I guess this is going to be interactive. DD462, Hull#2 is due to launch Feb/Mar'05, we'll be heading back to China mid-Feb and stay through commissioning at least. Hull construction, wiring, plumbing, interior foam, rough carpentry all done, major carpentry just finishing while we were there Nov, hull fairing all done. Engine & genset went in this past week. Return home schedule is pretty open at this point "Semper Gumbi" (always flexible), we do want to spend some time getting the bugs out before starting the major trek back to the West Coast. I would imagine by late summer, early fall '05. As for the name David Ellis, Dorothy and I played with a lot of "duck" names since selecting the Diesel Duck, never really settled on anything. This past summer I lost my Dad, who'd really been looking forward to spending time on the boat. Dorothy's Dad has been gone some 15 years but would've really enjoyed the project as he was an electrical engineer who was WWII USN involved in the development of radar at MIT, Harvard and (I think) U of Oklahoma. David - Ellis is a combination of our Dad's first names, so we can "take them with us" My Dad was 82nd Airborne, 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment, jumped D-Day. We figured to name the radar "Pete" Dorothy's Dad's (Ellis) nickname and the GPS Chart "Dave" as he was in a Pathfinder unit. Probably more than you wanted to know. Dave & Dorothy Nagle MV David Ellis Diesel Duck 462 (under construction) Sebastopol, CA