I probably have the reward for the most rudder pins broken, I have ran the dealer out of stock several times. I eventually analyzed and figured out why I was breaking so many rudder pins 95% of my failures were self induced. Almost every rudder failure was a result of touching the bottom, usually during launch and retrieval I would drop the rudder and it might touch the bottom, usually when turning the boat around to launch then jump on board. If just the bottom joint cracks or breaks it's almost impossible to detect until you are way out (one indicator is the rudder sometimes it becomes difficult to steer just before it breaks completely, which can be hours or days later). I'm pretty sure there is nothing you can do with the rudder when out on the water that will cause it to break (if you go out with a known good pin it's very unlikely it will break while your out ( that's why a lot of guys replace their pin often, personally I don't replace mine every time but I darn sure pull it out and look at it). Also nearly all my rudder pin breaks were from the side and back, almost never from hitting the bottom while moving forward (the strings do help some on impact)
I don't recommend putting any oil on the rudder pin, the oil will attract sand and grit, also oil attacks most plastics, the pin is made from Delrin plastic which is water loving and also self lubricating, just keeping it clean and well rinsed off with fresh water is best (same with rudder).
The nylon sheer bolt in the aka brace is not likely to break under normal conditions (unless your an extreme user like me). If you search this forum you will find several tricks that people do to strengthen their aka braces so if a sheer bolt does break, the AMA hull will not fold in and cause a capsize, but still gives you protection if you do happen to hit a dock where further (way more expensive) damage doesn't occur. I have sheered and broken many aka nylon bolts and can pretty much trace the problem to some of the stupid stuff I do (like pulling the boat onto shore by the AMA's), under normal use on the water it is not likely to break.
There are a lot of TI's out there, as they have been in service for a while now and are used for many different things (I'm on my 3rd TI now myself). They really are well designed and thought out.
Hope this helps
Bob
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