[Jim Bruton]

...i also thought about what Franz just said- if you have the plans, why not look at a - forgive me everyone - poor nearly 3rd world country to make it. Quality would be your main oversight, but then again, there are a lot of ex-Soviet machining houses and operators that could handle this. I know this is a big undertaking, but all you need is one rabid fan in that country to get onboard and get enterprising.... so yeah, how about Poland? If they can build ships (remember Lech Walesa?), they should be able to do this. Franz, where are you located?

By the way, if anyone thinks this is TOO outside the box, a friend of mine went to Russia a few weeks after it stopped being the Soviet Union. As they no longer had use or any way to sustain their larger nuclear ice-breakers (outfitted with ICBMs) on their own, he talked them into leasing them to him to take high paying passengers to the North Pole. He filled up TWO ships on the first trip, at a ticket price of $50,000 per person. I went for free because I filmed it. And he brokered the deal with no upfront money.