Sailing, the standing helm is very reasonable, about what I would want. And of course adjustable with mizzen trim to an extent. However when the rudder is turned more than a few degrees at speed either way, the effort is more than it should be, even with the Jefa gearbox steering giving me an equivalent 10' tiller. Motoring as well. It isn't the bearings either, Jefa self aligning roller bearings, you can push the rudder with one finger at rest. Going slowly, it steers with ease. The autopilot is easily capable of dealing with it, but it must be using more battery power than if the steering were easier.

The rudder was plenty big enough, I have never stalled it even down wind in a nasty seaway. Originally it was draft limited by the designed 6' draft, however right before the keel was cast we made the decision to add 4" to the keel in the lead casting, but the rudder was already built. So in this iteration I have given up about 3 sq ft on the training edge, but added almost 1 sq ft back by putting 4" on the bottom. It is still several inches above the keel to make sure it doesn't hit first.

Aerodynamicists call this 'hinge moment', that is, the distance from the hydrodynamic center of effort to the pivot point. Distance as originally designed was about 5.7". With the redesign, should be about 2". There is some danger going too short, it will lose 'feel' and ultimately become uncontrollable with positive feedback. At 10 knots this rudder should be developing around 2500 lbs lift x 5.7 in. is about 1200 ft lbs, 9:1 gearbox ratio and an 18" radius wheel gives about 87 lbs at the wheel rim at stall. That's a pretty good pull and about what it feels like. At 2" hinge moment it should be reduced to 30 lbs. That's enough to know you are doing something. At a more sedate 6 knots, 31 lbs originally gets reduced to something like 11 lbs. Still enough for feel, but not for arm exercise! At 2 knots, maybe there won't be much feel. But Ann has me start the motor at 2 knots typically .