HNY Jim,
Play around with the Search option on the top of this page. There are shoes being made. (But I must say I disagree completely with the alloy.) I've seen very rare mentions of alloys having to be the same. It is my opinion that the shoe and the shaft MUST be the same alloy. Even then you have to trust the supplier, who I would actually ask for the alloy percentages and the three digit numeber you can look up. What country the alloy originates may also be a clue as to its purity.
Personally. For 338's rudder and shoe I chose what I consider one of the purest Bronzes available, a real bronze, not a brass masquerading as a bronze they sell to the pleasure boat crowd. Everdur 655. It is a classic marine bronze. Considered propeller shafting. Almost pure copper, a teaspoon of silicon and a pinch of manganese. Manganese bronze is nearly 40% zinc. In the iffy environment of salt water, hot marinas and no positive way to protect metal, that has too much of a spread. It is for me. It's a fine strong alloy for stem fittings, chain plates and the like. I am not a metalurgist or an engineer. There is very good reason to believe that the original Pearson Ariel rudder shoe was/is manganese bronze.
I would mate the M. bronze shoe with the same in rod for the shaft. But then what will you use to hold the rudder planks? Could thread smaller rod to make the 'bolts.' Could be done avoiding ubiquitous silicon fasteners available almost everywhere. Ah, yer thru hulls are another unrelated brass called bronze. My Everdur cost like gold. Don't think 675 is cheaper, don't know, tho.
[Let me add that 655 can be welded. M. Bronze (675), being a brass, can only be brazed. If you are going to make the two-part shaft original rudder with the bent upper portion that goes over the aperture, you can cold bend the 1" silicon bronze ( but it will work harden if you bang it too much) Wouldn't try - I'ld take it to a metal shop with drawings! Really don't know if 675 can be bent or threaded.]
If I became edjercated it was self defense. Too many amateurs and professionals too are influenced by tradition, the marketplace, and experts influenced by tradition, industry brochures & spec sheets, and the mktplace.
But if I get on a cruiser site and the guy is unhappy with some stainless or badmouths some big name bilge pumps - and is specific about it - I'll give it a listen and look for confirmation. Figure their lives depend on their boats and gear. The ONLY metal you should go into the low latitudes with is silicon bronze. Only the very best 316 will last 2, 5, 10 years. None of it under water.
It would be hard to imagine that Pearson skeg you have to be original. Another clue is that the fastenings are not in sheer when attached to the keel. To do that the shoe would have to have sides. like a shoe, and be thru fastened thru the keel molding. I don't trust people like me who talk too much either.
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