Twanger:

I may not reply every day, but please know all of the tips in this thread are much appreciated and are being carefully placed into a memo in our trip planning folder. So, thank you again, and keep 'em coming.

As to a monohull again, I wish, especially after sitting in a new Oceanis 45 at the Chicago Boat Show a week or so ago! However, having introduced the female members of the crew to the size, sleeping stability and AC comfort of cats about 6 charters ago, <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" /> there is no going back now (even though gensets and AC are now available on many charter monos)!