Gary- ALL old salts use wood rudders! If God had intended for rudders to be made of plastic he would have make trees of plastic. Wait a minute- didn't I just see a plastic tree up Hwy 50 with some wires coming out of it? -----Original Message----- From: GILASAILR--- via montgomery_boats Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2016 10:25 PM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: M_Boats: Strawanza rudder According to the photo of the Tres Rudders provided by Bob E. - there is a substantial difference in size, weight, plan and foil shape between the blades and mechanisms. Certainly not a 'one-design' concern nor standardization to the rudders over the years. FWIW - Personal rudder history of Hull # 316 - Royce wood lifting blade - (2 of them) - Catalina 250 fixed blade (head modified to accommodate M-17 tiller casting and M-17 lifting rod) - current rudder blade is fiberglass and epoxy (he put some black stuff in there) over foam core, delrin bushings, no metal hardware on lifting blade. Deflection Test Photo attached. Latest one requires bungee as downhaul - yep - it floats up on the rod with tiller attached! Weighs <12 # w/o paint. Never going back to wood ones after the last two composite ones. GO In a message dated 1/22/2016 10:47:05 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, montgomeryboats@hotmail.com writes: Jazz The rudder has a hole (see photo) that a fixed line from an eyestrap on the top of the transome, runs down, thru the hole and back up to a Cam Cleat. Pull the line and the rudder slides up About 12 inches or so. Cleat it off. Here's a photo of the normal wood rudder and 2 generations of the Ida Sailor rudder that Gary Hyde provided. (Thanks Gary) New wood rudders are available at Royce Boat Shop in Newport Beach. His number is (949) 280-8849. Yes, JO boat works in Texas does excellent work as well. Bob (949) 489-8227