First may I thank you all for your positive responses.

Eric, as you say striking ground with the rudder at high speeds it is not as important as people seem to think, as the rudder is shallower than the daggerboard and is always following it so unless you are reversing at high speed the daggerboard will hit first however the pin should bend and pop out as you say, but also the bolts attaching it to the transom are brass so they should break first as well. We have had a couple of high speed groundings with daggerboards up under spinnaker no damage was effected to the hulls.

Scooby, the reason for the change was to save weight and reduce drag from the larger rudder.