While those plastics no doubt offer some advantages, I would suspect that rigidity of the overall blade would be less than the factory rudder, meaning that when viewed from the top the tip of the rudder would want to bow to weather with weather helm and might well twist, putting the tip at a different angle of attack than the upper part of the blade if the shear center of the foil doesn't coincide with the center of lift, which could offset some of the gains of the "good" foil shape. Still, for some people it's probably a very good option, certainly better than getting your transom bolts popped. Tod M17 #408 BuscaBrisas (<= who's transom bolts got stretched significantly once) -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Tom Smith Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 12:34 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: RE: M_Boats: New Kick up rudder Larry has an Idasailor rudder, Randy Graves has one, and I have one that's not yet installed. I'll let those guys speak regarding durability over time and performance, but I'm impressed with the quality of the build. I wasn't aware of a new, lighter version, or if the Montgomery blades can be ordered in a different hdpe material than what I got or not. It sure seems industrial strength to me, and in my opinion it's a superior solution to grounding than the original slide-up design. t /)) Tom Smith & Jane VanWinkle M15/345--Chukar M17/496--Unnamed _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats