changing shear point for rudder

Had some close calls yesterday, running up in very sallow water. Of course I forgot to put the spare rudder pin in the boat. Luckily nothing happened, we kicked everything up furled the sail and paddled out. But it did get me thinking, with all the comments about how hard it is to replace the pin under way. What about changing the pivot bolt to plastic, and maybe even cutting a bit out in the middle. If it broke changing that bolt would be much easier. The up down lines attach to the blade so it would not float/sink if the bolt broke.