Brian-
I like the thought of a folding wheel to increase workable cockpit space. From my perspective, I steer standing at the wheel, steer with my foot while I sitting on the stern rail seat, or steer while sitting on the cockpit combing with my legs pointing forward on the combing. In the the latter position I might find that my arm is a bit short with a smaller wheel. 

We keep the boat hook in the port stern locker. When the locker is open, the hatch interferes with the factory wheel and a smaller wheel would probably resolve that.

From a steering effort standpoint, our boats are pretty well balanced and I wouldn't expect it would take much more effort to handle with a smaller wheel.

Just my thoughts.

Paul