When I wrote my Product Review of the new Readyset SeaWind I had commented on the differences in size and weight of the steel bulb versus the previous lead bulb, painted or vinyl covered. I commented that in sailing trials with the Readyset I found little if any difference in performance versus my current SeaWind. However I did not conduct more specific head to head comparisons. I recently bought a new fin and rudder set and a steel bulb to go with it. I assembled them, filling the molding slots in the fin with epoxy filled with micro balloons, putting a thin film of epoxy/micro-balloon filler around the inside of the keel slot in the bulb before screwing the retaining nut on tight, wiping off the minor amount of excess filler with a cloth before it sets. To close the hole in the base of the bulb I used a 7/16" white plastic hole plug bought at my local hardware store, glued it in with medium CA and filed and sanded the plug to roughly fit the bulb contour. Not perfect but seemingly good enough. The weight of finished fin and bulb was 3 lbs 5.6 oz compared with my previous fin and vinyl covered lead bulb at 3 lbs 7.0 oz. I sailed my current SeaWind #86 with both fin and bulb combos this weekend against my usual competition and found no discernible difference in performance and handling between the two. I discussed this with Allan Vinson, Club Commodore and current Region 5 SeaWind Champion who gives me very tough competition. He said he had experimented with a steel bulb against his painted lead bulb some time ago and had reached the same conclusion. Gary Boell, our current SeaWind Class Champion, sailed a carbon version Readyset, out of the box with proper weight compensation. I therefore conclude that the steel bulbs are very acceptable alternatives to the lead bulbs with no performance advantage or disadvantage. Mike