Hey Curt, sorry for the delay.
I mount rudder after away from the beach/ramp. Usually row away to clear the area for other boats.
The pintiles are different lengths, I mounted the long one at lower station. When mounting rudder I lie across the stern seat with my hand in the water on the lower guedgeon. Slip the point in just a bit they eyeball the upper connections. Takes a few seconds.
Really looking forward to this technique in November or March.
Interested in hearing about better cold weather techniques!
E
Thanks Eric....I see your method, and I agree, not looking forward to manuvering physically back there in cold water...plus removing the rudder means needing to store it in the boat along with the offset tiller and tiller extension...not easy. I even consdered making wood blocks to glue on the transom above the gudgeons with tapered slots so the pintle will slide directly into the gudgeon, but that's not perfect either, so I'm leaning toward making my rudder into a kick up rudder....see other thread on this topic...looking for ideas on converting a fixed dory rudder to a kick up...dont want to start from scratch with the CLC kit because of all the work I did on the removable tiller..thanks! Curt