Question for Fred

Sometime over the last week or so, my attitude about boat building has changed.
Whereas when I started I was unsure of myself, and felt the necessity to check every step with a multitude of sources: the Uncle John building plans, the online question/answer forum, books, and, of course, the unfailing Fred, sometime recently I have developed a confidence in myself. It was probably around the time the Project began to feel like a Boat; once it became a unified whole.

Part of it is that I realized that this is not like a complex recipe for Le Soufflé Chaud à la Truffe Mélanosporum, Grand Marnier. Nor is it like one of my intricate excel computations

=(MAX((('O data'!C$23+'O data'!E$23)-3),0))+(MAX((('O data'!G$23+'O data'!I$23)-3),0))+(MAX((('O data'!K$23+'O data'!M$23+'O data'!O$23)-3),0))+(MAX((('O data'!Q$23+'O data'!S$23)-3),0))+(MAX((('O data'!U$23+'O data'!W$23)-5),0))+MAX(('O data'!Y$23-3),0)+(MAX((('O data'!AA$23+'O data'!AC$23)-3),0))+MAX(('O data'!AE$23-1),0)+MAX(('O data'!AH$23-1),0)+MAX(('O data'!AJ$23-1),0)+MAX(('O data'!AL$23-3),0)+'O data'!AO$23+MAX(('O data'!AR$23-13),0)+MAX(('O data'!AS$23-12),0)+MAX(('O data'!AT$23-8),0)+MAX(('O data'!AU$23-7),0)+MAX(('O data'!AV$23-6),0)+'O data'!AX$23+'O data'!AZ$23+'O data'!BA$23+'O data'!BC$23+'O data'!BD$23+'O data'!BF$23

An actual equation from my budgeting spreadsheet. This one calculates the number of extra musicians required for a production. I have dozens, maybe hundreds of equations like this. This is what I do.
in which every last character must be exactly so or the whole thing will fail.

No. Carpentry (or, at least, boat building) is more . . . forgiving. There are multiple ways to achieve a goal, and as long as you follow the general tenets of physics and geometry, you can kinda make it up as you go along.

At least, I hope this is the case. Or I won't have a boat for very long.
That being said, I sometimes still need some advice.

I have decided to cut one of the ends off of the boat to make a (small) transom. (For you lubbers out there, this means cutting off one of the pointy ends and sticking on a flat piece across the back - so it will be pointy at the front and square at the back.) I'm only going to cut off 6" or so - the transom will only be about 4" square, I think. I'm going to do this so that I can add a proper rudder, using a pintle and gudgeon system.

This is a glorified door hinge: the boat has a gudgeon attached:
The rudder has a pintle attached:
The pintle pin inserts into the gudgeon hole and voila: you have a working rudder.

Of course, there is another option. They now make specially designed gudgeon sets for canoes/kayaks (pointy-ended boats, not flat-transomed boats.)

These are simply attached to the pointy end of the boat and connected with a pin:
I suppose these would suffice, but it's not as elegant (in my eye) as a traditional pintle/gudgeon on a transom.

My underlying question, I suppose, is this: Given the light duty this rudder is going to endure, would it be conceivable to have only one pintle (long pin) and one gudgeon? They come in sets of two, so presumably two are required. But I'm thinking maybe just get the long pin and a more solid gudgeon:
I think this would be useful for quick removal of the rudder in the shallows and when docking.

Anyway, I guess this is me just thinking aloud. There's a certain nervous giddiness at the thought of sawing off the end of a boat that I've just built.