>>>I am really surprised that they made the upgrade require a new aluminum section (as opposed to a different comptip). I guess I had bad local knowledge. (Someone in our fleet was considering this upgrade years ago.) Is the aluminum cheaper than the comptip? It sounds like a lot more work if you have to transfer all the fittings, spreaders, etc. to new aluminum mast AND deal with the comptip, as opposed to just changing the comptip.<<<

It is cheaper and less work for Hobie to simply cut a slightly longer aluminum extrusion. For Hobie to manufacture a comptip exclusively for the SX18 would be quite expensive considering the number of SX's that were probably sold.

sm