I recently completed a 6-day 190-mile adventure in my M17 from Sacramento to San Francisco. A friend and I launched the boat into the Sacramento River about 8-miles north of Old Town Sacramento. We worked our way down through the Delta nearly to Stockton before heading out through the Carquinez Straight to San Francisco Bay and ultimately to Alameda. The ability to quickly lower the mast allowed us to pass through the Cross Delta Channel and under many low bridges. We fought headwinds nearly the entire journey and tidal currents half the time as well. We encountered brutal chop off the Concord Naval Weapons Station and hit bottom in some of the most unlikely places. San Pablo Bay was a long, drenching grind, as I knew it would be. I had purchased a new Nissan 6hp 4-stroke outboard which arrived hours before our departure including a separate install-it-yourself battery charger option which I installed in a few minutes. This engine performed absolutely flawlessly. Sadly (for a sailor) we had to motor almost the entire trip. I was astonished to find that the engine consumed only a gallon of gasoline a day; 6-gallons for the entire trip. It was embarrassing to stop at a fuel dock. I'm glad I got the 6hp. It's the same frame as the 4 and 5hp models, and although we normally ran it at less than half-throttle, there were times when we needed it all against wind and current. No complaints about the M17. Some pix at http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=jcrewser&AID=1074549. John Crews M17 'Allegretto' Orcutt, CA _________________________________________________________________ Add MSN 8 Internet Software to your existing Internet access and enjoy patented spam protection and more. Sign up now! http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/byoa