A little bit of keel progress today while I try to ignore the good weather and strong winds on the bay.   I will start doing some measurement checks from the base board to get a best alignment between port and starboard halves then insert a pair of alignment pins.  So far all the measurements on the profile have come out fine.  I had a scare the other day thinking I had lost 5mm in stack height somewhere but it is all fine.  Just the sanding of the poly is going to be very messy.

May 5th:  A few days later I have started sanding, cutting and grinding the shape.  I am surprised how fast it is going but regret the use of 'can foam' as mentioned earlier.  It has very low stifness so I will depend on the fiberglass top layer for strnegth in any areas where it was used.  I also revise my opinion of the styrofoam which works very well along with the pour foam.  I will probably test an area of this soft can foam with fiberglass to see what surface pressure it can take so as not to impact the sand casting.  I was warned by Commercial Casting that the sand packing could deform too soft of an area.  After all this work as well I have about 1 oz each of parts A and B of the pour foam.  There are several voids that still need to be filled so I am looking for some other compatible filler before I switch to bondo.  

Followup on the plug work.  Do not use can foam or Styrofoam, even fine grade.  The pour foam is very controllable and manageable and cuts well for shaping.  The others are too soft and make a mess.

So I started on the Port side plug with current success and need to add alignment pins.

Keel work Starboard side:  The keel plug needs to separate along the center line for casting purposes so I have now switched from a 1/2" back board to a 1/4" requiring extra strips to stiffen it overall. The profiles were glued in place and foam added to fill the voids. It is a bit of an experiment and I hope one layer of 6 oz. glass fiber will suffice in the end to make a cast worthy plug. The can foam works quite well but is softer than the 2 part polystyrene pour foam. I use both at this point. I am scratching my head as to why I bought expensive Marine epoxy for this job but next in line (to build experience) is the rudder and that will use it appropriately. This work is getting ahead of itself. I am not sure what the casting house in California will charge but I am hoping for the best. If it falls through I know this thing will look great on top of my Honda Civic. Back to taxes, run silent, run deep.