I've practiced with my EM over the years. Oh, and I remember the bloody finger days too. My rudder is foam filled & buoyant in the water. I wonder if Kermit is fighting the full weight of his rudder while on the hard?
I did however come up with a quick changeout for installing my ET. On my C30, the mounting fixture for the ET was bulky, irregular shaped & bolted onto my rudder tube. The space behind my wheel to the bench is narrow. It was shaped such & exactly at the right height to constantly bang my legs & the thru bolts would also cut me nicely. Knowing my rudder was buoyant, I removed the cast mounting fixture & I attached this to the my ET. I then took (I believe a 3" PVC pipe cap), match-drilled a thru hole to align with the hole in my rudder tube. I then slip the cap on the tube & run one through bolt exact length with any sharp bolt edges smoothened. No more cuts & bruises. When needed, I can quickly remove the cap, slip on the ET w/mount fixture.
I've tried steering both ways, with the wheel on & off. And, it works both ways, but if the ET is on, you should have time to remove the wheel at some point. Or, just simply raise the tiller to clear the spokes or, maybe you just need to shorten it some to clear your wheel.
Another advantage to my PVC cap is for making a rudder position line. I aligned the rudder straight. Using tape, I made a 1/4" wide "line" from the center of the cap forward & vertically down the side. Now, I assure you I'm not gay but, I used a very nice bright red fingernail polish to paint the cap to indicate my rudder position. Now all I need do is to look down to see where my rudder is at. Funny, as now I'm thinking of also doing my nails too.
CR
