Re: Just add water

	Methane and ammonia are more space efficient, but water has several
advantages: its cheap, very common, easy to handle and store (can be
stored at room
temp), and can be handled by standard purification plants. Methane would
still be best
in some cases tho (like trying to cross the Rift with multiple jumps w/o
refuelling)
	As for Bertil's (quite valid) question of why everyone isn't doing it, well
thats the other half of the problem...:-)  Here are some ideas:
	If most of your fuel is water and your purification plant gets knocked out,
your in big trouble - so thats a reason for Navy ships not to use it.
	The Vilani won't use it cause LH2 works fine, and its traditional...:-)
	Anyone in a big hurry, or whose purification plant takes a long time
to finish would want LH2, so they can jump/fight/whatever quicker.
	I think that a combination of these reasons could explain why most
of the "standard" designs use LH2.  However, even if the ship wasn't designed
for it, you can still use water; this could be a common "trick of the
trade" for
merchants trying to squeeze in more cargo. I think that GDW and/or Digest
Group might accept that.  (This is also a possible reason to provide life
support etc, for the fuel tankage; it might be modified to hold other stuff...)
This still lets you design your own ships to use water -- have fun.

"How's business?  Well, if you were a free trader in the Solomani Rim, and
the Vilani big three had just pulled out all their merchants from the whole
sector, how do you think you would be doing?" - Capt. Grant

					W. Dow Rieder

 	When the only tool you have is a hammer, all your problems
start to look like nails...