The reason for the rudder (which I neglected to explain) is that I want to rig my canoe (cedar strip) to sail. I have a nice little sail and have built a lee board but didn't want to fasten anything perment to the end of the canoe and mess up the look of the boat - thus the side mount question. Thanks for the respose though! I've sailed a bit and always thought the rudder had to be as far back as possible.

> Of course it will not track the same, that's the whole reason
> for mounting the rudder! Seriously, why are you thinking of installing
> a rudder? More info is needed to make intelligent comments.

> As for rudder location, as long as you've got the rudder near
> the back, offsides won't bother it appreciably.