Hi Mark,
I don't know how long you've been around RV's, but there was a similar panic a number of years ago about the RV-8 wing (which happens to be the RV-7 wing, too, but no one ever seemed worried about the -7 wing in the ensuing years).
The factory demo -8 had a catastrophic wing failure, killing the demo pilot and the passenger. It was almost certainly simple over-stress of the wing, flown way outside the spec'd limits. But it still took a couple of years for all the hand-wringing to die down. There are still individuals that think the -6 wing is stronger, based on counting the bolts. (?)
Similar stuff happened much earlier with the -3; guys flying them like they were unlimited acro mounts, and pulling the wings off.
Thanks again,
Mark
There's still speculation about the -7's tail, but it isn't the rudder at issue; it's the vertical stab (which, if I'm not mistaken, is the same vertical stab as the -8, but no one's....etc etc).
I think if you look at pure data, it's hard to see a real issue with the rudder itself. I'd have to think that when the factory decided to go the -9 rudder on the -7 to improve spin recovery performance, they actually tested its performance at the speeds of the -7 prior to offering the change to their customers.
If you can't get comfortable with the plane, then maybe a different choice is in order. But I think it's worthwhile to have data and logic drive my emotion, rather than the other way around.
FWIW,
Charlie