Today I finally made my first attempts at casting lead bulbs and ballasts, and it turned out well! Over a month ago, I made some female molds out of refractory cement. They are now fully cured. One mold was for torpedo style bulbs for the Sun Winds and Rip Tides. It has two slightly diffferent-sized bulbs in it. The molds I made seemed to just miss the sweet spot. I made one slightly smaller than the other in the hopes that one of the two molds would produce a 4.5 lb. half-bulb for a 9 lb. total bulb. The smaller mold turned out a 3 lb. 5 oz. half-bulb, and the larger one turned out a 4 lb. 14 oz. bulb. However, I think I over-poured the larger one, and if I take better care in my pouring I think it would make a 4.5 lb. half-bulb. So I'm really close! Yes, I made "half bulbs" instead of a solid bulb with a slot in it. My system for mounting the bulbs is to have an thin inner-core of plywood that the two halves mount onto.  I also made ballast halves for the Wampum...

I'm in the process of thinking, yes... just thinking, about making my own ballast for both the Sun Wind Hf and for the upcoming Wampum III, both Vintage Marblehead sailboats, but using two different styles of lead ballast. The Sun Wind HF takes a torpedo style bulb. I 3D modeled one in Sketchup Pro 2017, and from there exported an STL file that I used in one of our 3D printers at school (I'm a teacher and the CTE teacher actually printed it for me). Here is what we ended up with... two identical male molds: Here is what the bottom of one of them looks like: 3D prints are a bit rough, and if I used them straight they might stick to the cement too well. So I'm coating them with thickened epoxy and will then sand them down. I'll then wax them before using them. The idea is that I will sink these into a container of refractory cement and let it harden, will remove the molds, and then let it cure for a long time (weeks). The concrete will probably also take a t...