RE: M_Boats: Re: M17 Rudder

Larry, I think Busca's submerged part of the rudder is very close to 11" longitudinally and 3' vertically. I wouldn't worry about losing 2" (I think that was the figure) UNLESS you have some spare change laying around that you are dying to spend or UNLESS you are the sort who loves performance. There is probably a slight loss of performance but probably a lot of sailors wouldn't notice it. The good thing is that the depth is the same. Loss of rudder area while maintaining depth has a smaller effect than if you had just trimmed that same amount of area off the bottom of the rudder. I had trimmed quite a bit off the bottom of Busca's original rudder, maybe 9" or so, and the effect there was very noticeable (25% loss of area). Tod