Today I set the hull back on saw horses in the upside down position. I hope the next time I flip it, it will be the last time. I added a strip of 12 oz biaxial cloth the whole length of the keel today. It starts at the deck level on the stem, just below the handle, and ends at the skeg. I ran it up the skeg and along the bottom too. Biaxial cloth is great when you need cloth to lay down on various angled surfaces. It even does well on sharp corners. I helped it along at points by tacking a sheet of plastic over it to hold in down.

One of the guys who I went kayaking with on Orcas, Pete, came by and checked out the progress I'm making. He use to do glass work building snowboards for Lib Technology and worked repairing boats for awhile too. He gave my glass work a thumbs up. As it didn't take long to get the keel glassed with the final strip of cloth, I switched to other tasks. I went to work on shaping the rudders and figuring out what material I need to order for the mast. I've decided that I need to get started on other projects while I work on the hulls so that I can meet my launch date.

I've been weighing the options of wood or aluminum for the mast. I've talked to suppliers of both materials to get comparative costs. I was leaning towards aluminum but Scott Williams, who sails a Tiki 21 and plans on building a Tiki 26 has convinced me wood is the way to go. You can see his Tiki 21 at tiki21element.blogspot.com/ Though there are advantages of aluminum, the problem with it comes down to availability and cost. I haven't been able to find a suitable annodized tube that is 5" OD and has a wall thickness of .125" that I don't have to ship across the country. Schedule 40 or 80 pipe, which is readily available locally, is too heavy as they both have wall thicknesses greater than required and is also not available in a 5" OD. The other factor, cost, has to be considered. By the time you get all the bits and pieces fabricated and the tubing welded together to make a 26 foot long mast, you have a big project at a cost greater than what the materials for a wood mast will come to. So wood it is - easier to fix in the self-sufficiency mode anyway and it won't stain the sail pocket black.