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My mistake i thought i saw a pic of your boat with a wind generator.  I am powered only by solar and i want to be able to run a frig off of solar and wind.

Five pintles and gudgeons?  If that rudder ever grounded out I would be afraid it would rip the whole back end of the keel off.  I myself bounced off of a coral head in the bahamas.  Actually my rudder did and it came off with that extreme force.  The cotter pins were pulled right through the pintles.  I anchored quick and followed the rudder and re-atattched.  I hair raising experience to say the least.  So in my opinion that rudder should be able to be forced off without taking the ass of the keel with it.  It should be held in with heavy enough cotter pins to keep her safe at what the sea has to offer.  I have seen people drill the hole on the gudgeon and put a big fat nut and bolt rather than a cotter pin.  That is scary to me.   I have two stations on my rudder and they are very sound and I keep a close watch on them.  However a am confident in their seaworthyness.  Two, maybe three, but five.

I brought my bottom right down to the glass.  I did not want to mess around with a surface that I thought might be ok.  I wanted to barrier coat my bottom once, do it right, and get the max years out of it.  I achieved the surface I wanted and hosed it down with water to get all of the dust off.  I dried it with a towel, let it dry, and wiped down with solvent such as acetone or similar.  All of this was done in good drying conditions.  I was very fortunate to have the boat in my driveway so that I could do a very thorough job.  After fully dry i mixed up a pot full of interprotect expoxy barrier coat by interlux.  I didnt mix the whole batch at once but mixed what i needed when i needed it.  I brushed the barrier coat on with a four inch brush.  I liked brushing it on because i felt that i got a better coverage and the bottom is not too large of an area which would call for the roller.  I put on five coats always wiping down in between coats.  My bottom is tip top.  I am totally confident in its longevity and feel that it is protected better than from the factory.  cheers

Yeah that whole dead wood area in the back of the keel is always on my mind.  There is a drip pan for the diesel glassed in preventing good access to the abyss.  I will cut that away in order to gain access enough to glass.  It is a very important part of any boat and should be as beefy as possible.  I often have thought that the area was a huge vulnerable void that maybe should have been sealed or filled.

I am interested in the pinhole leaks that had or have.  Where exactly are they and what have you found to be the cause.  This is unerving to me because these things are what sinks a boat.  Chris