  Nuclei close to the neutron drip line are described employing an interaction
model which is based on the low-momentum interaction $V_{lowk}$. This effective
two-body interaction which is determined to reproduce the nucleon-nucleon (NN)
scattering data at energies below the pion thresh-hold is supplemented by a
density-dependent contact interaction fitted to reproduce the saturation
properties of infinite nuclear matter within the Hartree-Fock approach. It is
demonstrated that corresponding calculations for closed shell-nuclei using this
interaction model reproduce the bulk properties of these nuclei, independent
whether the wave functions are expanded in terms of harmonic oscillator waves
or in a basis of plane waves discretized in a spherical box of appropriate
size. This plane wave basis, however, is more appropriate to describe weakly
bound nuclei and the transition from discrete nuclei to homogeneous matter
which is supposed to occur e.g. in the crust of neutron stars. Properties of
exotic nuclei are studied within a Hartree-Fock plus BCS approximation.
