On Sep 21, 2:13 pm, "Toller" wrote:

...

Is there anything inherently wrong with making a solid rudder, possibly
covered with fiberglass? I keep my boat moored in deep water and never sail
in shallow water. I have never actually had a reason to bent it, and don't
expect to. It seems to me that a solid rudder will be alot more durable
than anything that can be made that bends (except for the plastic/aluminum
ones they have now; but I can't make one of those...).

Am I overlooking something?

There is nothing wrong with a solid wood rudder if you keep a good
waterproof finish on it. I've seen many an oak rudder, centreboard,
and daggerboard. The wood has to be straight grained and free of knots
and warping. Good wood is getting hard to find. Often the wood is sawn
into 5-6 pieces lengthwise and glued back together with the wood grain
alternating for added strength and resistance to warping. It's not
necessary to cover with any synthetic resin if it's painted of
varnished and the paint or varnish is touched up annually. Often on a
kick up rudder the pivot bolt is set into a metal tube to protect the
wood from wear. Having written all that, I use plywood with the edges
sealed with polyester resin, not glass cloth. Round the leading edge
and taper the trailing edge down to 1/8". Plywood rudders,
centreboards, and daggerboards lack the airfoil cross possible of
solid wood, unless they are built up, shaped, and sealed all over with
glass reinfroced resin. However, the airfoil shape may be overrated
since I owned a saiboat with a 75 pound sheet steel centerboard which
was the fastest boat of it's length in the sailing club.

You have a few workable options which would be fine on a small
cruising sailboat.

PS have you read "Frugal Sailing" (I think that's teh title) written
by a Potter 15 owner? Look for it at the public library. The Ottawa
library had a copy.