The SOS Rudder was designed to meet several conflicting demands: - It had to be small enough to store easily - It had to be able to be installed by one person, at sea - It had to be large enough to steer a 50-60 ft LOA boat - And, it had to be reasonably priced. We met these parameters by using existing components already proven for strength in our other products - the mounting brackets and tubes from the Monitor windvane, the rudder from the Monitor MRUD emergency steering system, and the castings from our Auto-helm windvane - all made of 316L stainless steel. We are the first company to offer a commercially available emergency steering system at a reasonable price.