How to remove prop shaft on Albin 27

[REO]

Do I have to remove the rudder to get the prop shaft out of an Albin 27? My boat is on a trailer and it looks like the rudder will hit the ground before coming out.

[REO]

Re-measured, and the rudder clears when the trailer is in the right position.

[DCatSea]

I've just removed my rudder to remove the shaft, so I could put in a new cutless bearing, do a number on the stuffing box and refurbish the Vulkan drive saver. It made life so much simpler, and the rudder came out very quickly once I got the boat on the giant forklift; same putting it back in (yesterday). Shaft popped right out with no trouble. Everything is now back in and the whole drive train is very shiny and new, and may last a while longer with less vibration (not that I had much of that anyway).
Original cutless was in a bit of a state, down to the metal all through, and stuffing box really benefitted from removal and thread cleaning. I may be able to tighten it down (hopefully a long way down the road after initial tightening) without contorting too much. I'll be posting pix at some time.