220V to do the same heating. If the watts are the same, there will be no difference. That same formula should point out that using 110V will require a wire with twice the capacity (bigger) to carry the same load at 220V. In practice, the 110V units generally have a lower heating capacity than a 220V unit. But that need not be so. Good Luck! CaptnWil 40 Pier Pointe New Bern NC 28562 (252) 636-3601 captnwil@coastalnet.com

What I do know is that if the dock doesn't have 220 you are out of luck. We spent last Christmas in Puerto Vallarta at the only slip without 220. Bev was baking Christmas goodies in 95 degree heat. You pays your money and takes your choice! Dolph M/V The Right Whale

ith > twice the capacity (bigger) to carry the same load at 220V. > > Capn Wil It is a common misconception that "If the watts are the same, there will be no difference." Thereis a second expression Power = I x I x R. This means that power losses are a function of the current squared. Hence we transmit power at 100,000 volts and have enormous power losses when we run a 30' line to a winch at 200 amps. Since the typical dryer runs at 5800 watts, it is much better to run it at 240v, which most generators capable of 6kw will be able to supply. Good luck on the SPADE test, I'll not even think of buying one until its has your imprimatur. Peter Denton >

Virgin Islands, and Venezuela, in addition to Canada and the U.S. Fifty-two per cent, or 428, take the full-strength List while 392 receive the List Digest. --Listmeister Georgs

eally care where many of the aids-to-navigation are placed. In fact, there is an argument to creating routes away from them. On a foggy day in Maine, you do not want to aim buoy-to-buoy because that is what everyone else is doing! I would disagree about laptop use on a boat though: - Web browsing is not a power-user activity - Web browsing means bringing in a multitude of software add-ons for many things (Adobe Acrobat, Quicktime, various ActiveX components, etc.) - Email is not a power-user activity - WiFi is quickly becoming a non-power-user activity; tools like Network Stumbler (thanks Ron!) will become more and more common - Checking weather and even accessing weatherfax via an SSB connection is not a power-user activity - Looking at your digital photographs, backing up your PDA/cell phones, etc. are all non-power-user activities It is a huge advantage to be able to do all of those things, and more, on your single higher-end portable computer. By the way, you're right about the 10% of features used on navigation software. Maptech tells me that only 20% of their customers ever use routes. It's hard for me to believe but they keep statistics on this type of thing over many thousands of customer-contacts. To date, there have been no questions or problems with routes on Outdoor Navigator. This either means that I wrote it brilliantly...or only a few people are using it! ================ Jeffrey Siegel M/V aCappella DeFever 53PH W1ACA/WDB4350 Castine, Maine

ng M/V Curmudgeon MT-44TC Currently moored in Nantucket Harbor, MA

he "yacht" crossing my bow from my port side, the wake monster astern coming down the starboard side for a "close" look, etc. Burying the head in the display would take care of the traffic problem then one could watch a real time tide display, check the current for a passage through some pass next month, pull up a 3D display of next weeks fishing hole etc. Sorry, but sometimes I get sarcastic. And we do have paper charts, sailing guides, tide tables and LNM to review in-addition to the electronic stuff. Tom KK-42

orida Keys. They are low-lying, difficult to evacuate - only one highway runs the 125-mile length of the island chain - and are located in a very active hurricane zone. 4. Coastal Mississippi. It's low-lying and located on a shallow sound where barrier islands funnel and trap surge. 5. Miami-Fort Lauderdale. They are located in South Florida - a prime target for hurricanes coming both out of the western Caribbean and the Atlantic. The population is large, evacuation routes are inadequate, and a lot of poor people who can't evacuate or protect their homes live there. 6. Galveston-Houston. Galveston is on a low-lying barrier island vulnerable to surge on the sound side, despite its oceanside seawall. ... "A lot of big ones come up that way," . 7. Cape Hatteras, N.C. The Outer Banks are low-lying barrier islands - narrow, exposed, subject to massive storm erosion that cuts channels across the islands. ... The Outer Banks are a prime target for hurricanes that cross the Atlantic from the Azores and turn north before Florida. ....the islands are second only to Florida in numbers of hurricanes hitting or brushing them. 8. Eastern Long Island, N.Y. "It's been a long time since they've seen a big hurricane," says Leatherman. The last big one was Gloria, a Category 3 that hit in 1985. (So why worry now???) 9. Wilmington, N.C. Wilmington and the resort communities around it - Wrightsville Beach, Topsail Island, Oak Island - have been hit a lot in recent years. Wilmington's downtown on the Cape Fear River is low-lying, as are the barrier islands, and Mason's Inlet is migrating - it is very prone to erosion. 10. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. The west-coast Florida shoreline is low-lying and prone to flooding, its population is huge, and Tampa Bay is shoal. A 15- to 20-foot storm surge is par for the bay if a big hurricane hits....."It's had some good luck, but also it's not on a major route for hurricanes."