O'Day 25 Rudder Sketch

[Gudenuph]

FWIW, attached is a dimensioned sketch of my rudder. I'm trying to solve the problem of the rudder having a greater draft than the stub keel. The store-bought rudder hinge fixture at $800 more or less is attractive but out of the question. The simplest fix I've come up with so far is to just reposition the pintles after trimming the upper leading edge of the rudder blade so as to not foul the transom. If this works well enough all that I need do is trim the bottom of the rudder blade, about 8 inches, and move the pintles back to their original positions. I realize that the sails would have to be trimmed for a light helm but like to do that anyway to reduce drag.
Any other ideas/solutions would be appreciated.

Geohan

PS: It has since come to mind that rather than butcher the leading edge of the rudder, fashion longer temporary pintles out of scrap iron for the experiment.

 

[Joe11688]

FWIW, attached is a dimensioned sketch of my rudder. I'm trying to solve the problem of the rudder having a greater draft than the stub keel. The store-bought rudder hinge fixture at $800 more or less is attractive but out of the question. The simplest fix I've come up with so far is to just reposition the pintles after trimming the upper leading edge of the rudder blade so as to not foul the transom. If this works well enough all that I need do is trim the bottom of the rudder blade, about 8 inches, and move the pintles back to their original positions. I realize that the sails would have to be trimmed for a light helm but like to do that anyway to reduce drag.
Any other ideas/solutions would be appreciated.

Geohan

PS: It has since come to mind that rather than butcher the leading edge of the rudder, fashion longer temporary pintles out of scrap iron for the experiment.

I think that you came up with an excellent solution to this problem. I lowered the pintles on my rudder to gain more height over the top of the transom for an O'Day 25 tiller that I wanted to install. It worked out great for me.
In your case, I would just go ahead and bore the holes for the pintles where you want them to go and fill in the other holes. If you have to, you can bore the hole in the top of the rudder for the tiller pin but I wouldn't cut the top off the rudder just yet until you get the rudder to perform the way you want it. It's easy to fill in the bolt holes.