I bought some 4 inch OD aluminum beam from onlinemetals (I believe it was 1/4 inch thickness... clearly overkill, could probably go with 1/8 thick). I cut three lengths that were, I think, 8 or so inches. I will need to post pics but I basically cut the "top" off the tube then cut a larger top off the extra tube, turned it upside down on top of the open tube and had it welded by a local dude. I used the extra length to cut a larger top so that the beam would have more to rest on. I made them so that they raised the beam almost a full 4 inches. I then cut a total of 6 2.5 (or similar) inch circles in each to lighten them (on the sides that sit on the beam and receive the beam so no one would get fingers/hands/feet caught in them. I also bedded the beam in epoxy (after coating with mold release). Total cost was about 150$. It ended up being slightly heavier than the carbon ones a friend has. It was a much better option than the 600$ than Bauman would have needed to make the carbon ones, and still better than the 400$ that Bill mentioned. They are bullet proof (probably literally) and make a world of difference if you sail with a somewhat heavy crew on the HT. If you are seriou, I can have a friend show some pics.
BTW, just checked here:
http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm...&top_cat=6015/ft. Can't beat that! figure 40 or so for welding, you are looking at less than 100$. hard part of the whole deal is cutting it, but it would be easier with the 1/8 than the 1/4 I used. It would work on any boat that has the problem of slapping. As bill said, may not be a problem, but on my old HT with a total crew weight of almost 400 lbs and not a lot of bouyancy in the bows, getting to the back of the boat to fly the spin meant a lot of dragging and going slow.
