below the aperture before. That's where it might be good to apply extra roving between the top section(torque carried by the rods through the stock), with a longitudinal reinforcing in mind.

I like the gusset. That and the skeleton of fiberglass, should form a strong connection between the two areas.

The torque on the lower half of my rudder is only carried by the grain of the wood. You can see, they designed it with that in mind, it's quite thick(about 2 1/2" forward) to carry the torque to the lower sections without (much) twisting. Except for a bronze casting around the perimeter, the lower section just goes for the ride.