Migration from VAX 3100 to SIMH questions and looking for ideas

Thanks for all the ideas, folks. Yes, I've looked into Charon and the cost would probably bankrupt the company. At least that's how I read their price list. Yes, it's the right way to go, but... I suppose the company could take the COBOL code and move it to a real PC environment as well...get away from VMS entirely. Since at least one person suggested staying with the real hardware, perhaps that is the best bet. I'm not even happy about upgrading the OS, since I really don't want to get the license manager into a fit. The hardware seems pretty stable, except for the disks. I had asked about disks a while back and got many excellent responses. However, I went with one which was to buy the new "cheetah"? drive, very big, and unfortunately, 5.5-2 won't support it, along with the firmware. My bad, I forget to say the system is running antiquated software. So, it's back to the 4GB drives. Went with a used drive from a reputable vender, and things are stable for now. You've given me many good options to think about, so now I have to make a recommendation to my friend/client. Just when I was about to retire and get out of the business... Thanks again, Joe Heck