Another possibility is to go and buy a suitable sized chunk of bronze and have someone make the part on a milling machine.

While I'm very keen on getting the plaster cast from the new cast shoe, and while I would go for 2 of them if someone cast a batch real soon, I'm probably going to end up doing that. The biggest "ouch" is gonna be the cost of the materials, I think.

The mill work is really straightforward, so a person could probably get it done by a student at a local technical college for very little...I've done that before for things, and my advice is to speak with the instructor and have him choose the student! Also, a lot of people in this world have mill skills and have the machines in their garage, especially hot-rodders and motorsport types. I have a couple of guys to choose from who are both good friends and treat me pretty right.

Really complex things, or things that need to duplicate existing parts (like mast shoes, masthead fittings, spreader sockets...) are much more easily done on modern CNC gear that incorporates a stylus-type plotting machine. This lets the operator make a digital "map" of the original part, then clean it up and alter as needed into a finished program. The technology department at the local University here has that stuff, and I am presently trying to cultivate a capable student there. Lot of times, a case of good beer can buy a lot of machine labor!

On that topic, I am going to be having a couple sets of billet spreader bases made within the next few months. The Ariel ones are same as the Triton as far as my experience at least...if anyone is interested, please let me know. I'll also be having a pair of mast shoes and a pair of mastheads done...by the look of things in the manual, we also share the same spar dimensions (in section) and the same type wood step, so those should probably work, too. The main thing for me is buying the appropriate alloy stock and finding the right student, beyond that I'm willing to have the fellow do more than just the two sets of parts if I can know ahead and get all the mat'l in one shot, and have the parts all made at once.

Dave