RE: My newly built Dumas Ace Sloop
Basswood is a neat lightweight easy wood to work with. I do plan on building another Ace soon. As Jet says the Dumas plans were tough to decipher when it comes to rigging and when I was a kid it was pretty much guesswork on my part. It has a small sail area so yeah your gonna need a breeze to get it going however mine handles chops & winds up to 20mph no problem. The sail'sare fully adjustable for any sea conditions.
The keels shouldnt be a gig deal my first thought was to get one of those small melting pots over at the fishing shop and buy some bulk lead. You can probably make a simple plaster mold from the original...and some brass or steel sheet and there ya go.....