: .... It performed very well at all points to the
: wind and never required more than 1/2 deployment for complete
: control of tracking. I did have it jamb up completely and had to
: return to the launch area to clear some small stones from
: between the skeg and the skeg box. Next time I will set the
: skegbox about 1" to port of the keel. ...

One month later and some things have changed. I took the boat down the Connecticut river on a three day trip and several skeg related failures occured. 1.) The skeg jambed up again with small gravel and as I was cleared it the carbon fiber rod broke in the control box. Lesson learned: Leave at least 3/16" on each side of the skeg to allow for some grit to self clear. I imagine that this is dependant on the type of sand gravel you will encounter in your area. 2.) Shortly after this I hit some gravel in the river and realized that the carbon fiber had broken again inside the skeg box near my self described "innovative" UHMWPE hinge. Not at the hinge but about 3/4" forward of the hinge. I am convinced that the reason the carbon fiber rod broke was because the fancy teak control knob had swelled to such a degree that the knob was jamming in its control box.

Solutions:
a.) I remade the skeg itself out of 1/8" Lexan sheet, and does not jamb (yet).
b.) The control rod is now made out of UHMWPE blocks screwed together. Looks terrible, but it works well and does not swell.
c.) The hinge also acts as a shock absorber (see below)

Three weekends of rather hard use, and all is well so far including grounding on some rocky sandy conditions.