" wrote in
oups.com:

QUESTION1: How HOT does it really get INSIDE the cabin of a
Cruising
Boat, in the Tropics? What's the typical you've experienced?
What's
the worst-case??

80-110F, hotter if you don't put up a tarp to keep the plastic
roof in the shade! I've seen them 130F at the dock with all the
ports open in the hot sun, easily. That's why most boats the
live here, in Charleston, SC USA, have air conditioning.


QUESTION2: If you use computer-based charts on a laptop or
other
onboard computer, how much Harddrive space do your charts take
up??
(Let's say for a passage, or your typical cruising area)?? How
large a
hard drive do you feel you need to be "comfortable" for charts
and
your other uses??


The best answer for you is "as large as you can find". Hard
drives are getting SO cheap! Recently, one of our local Best Buy
stores was selling a 160GB external USB hard drive that self-
powers right out of the USB port, made by Western Digital in
China for $US72...within the last week!

New laptop drives can be had that hold 250GB, now. You can never
have enough hard drive space ESPECIALLY as they are now so cheap.

For reference, in the 1980's I paid $US2,499 for a 33 MEGAbyte,
not GIgabyte, hard drive for the old IBM-PCXT. (.033 GB) That
was the biggest drive available at the time!

You can always leave excess storage blank.....You cannot stretch
small storage into bigger storage.