Dinghys with keels

launching at many sailing clubs prevents the many Keelboat/Dinghies with keels from taking off. The reason is launching from a road base - heavy, ruins the bearings and someone always needs waders etc. and also the need for immediate depth close to the shore.
How about a design where the actual bulb can be raised/lowered seperately from the centerboard (which can also be raised/lowered indepndantly from the bulb so allows the boat to be launched from a trolley & sail away from the shore without needing 4/5 ft under you so keel/bulb can be set in place?
Now doodling on my notepad..

Blue:
 I think my posts agree with you regarding the FF. I sailed them for a long time dating back to Broxbourne Sailing Club. I posted earlier that a FF is a "keelboat with a keel" and distinctly different from the Viper 640 and K6 category of boat. 
I decided to amend my comment...because:-
1. I wanted to recognize that Uffa Fox was ahead of his time, and in its day the FF was the most dinghy like keel boat around.
2. The FF sailors are very fond of calling the FF a "dinghy with a keel"....just check out the FF website. I understand where they are coming from. It is a very lightweight keel boat, even compared to the SB20.
3. It is still a lovely boat and I have many close friends who sail them.
BUT I agree with you, compared to the modern era of Vipers and K6s and the like.....the FF behaves more like a keelboat.

When I sailed FFs (and Solings, many years ago) I used to say to myself  "Why doesnt someone design a keel boat that really takes off downwind and planes?"  Solings especially were beasts in big breeze going downwind. When I stepped on the Viper .....it was one of those "Ah Ha" moment. Finally!

Where I disagree with you is comparing the SB20 to Viper or K6 category.  The SB 20 is much heavier and pushes a lot more water around when it is sailing.  It feels very different.  Not better or worse, just very different. When it comes to launching on a ramp, the lightness of the Viper made it easy. It wasnt my trailer but they looked as robust as a typical salt water trailer. I cannot speak to the K6 or VX but since they are lighter even than a Viper, I assume they must be equally easy to ramp launch.    

I intend to try a K6 because there are a few around locally. 

I was seriously considering buying a K6 at one time and sailed one a few times. What finally put me off was the thought that either I needed to find a really large male crew or else sail it three-up, which some do but there isn't really a job for the third person because the boat is laid out for two.

What has killed the sportsboat scene in the UK IMO is that the marinas have continued to ratchet up the dry-sailing cost 5% a year every year regardless of recession or the lack of inflation, and on the whole clubs don't have crane launching. Routinely launching something like an SB20 or a Viper off a road trailer into cold salt water requires a dedication and a willingness to spend time on trailer maintenance which not many people will sustain. Said with feeling as I have done both the launching and the ensuing changing of trailer bearings.

I owned a FF for several seasons. It's a keelboat, a nice sensitive one but still a keelboat, not a "dinghy with a keel". Try pulling one up the beach if you doubt it. Try capsizing one, it's been done but you really have to work at it.


Edited by blueboy - 21 Feb 17 at 5:43am

I want to amend an earlier comment of mine.

Half the classes I mentioned in my list above are built in England and yet they are all sold abroad...why haven't these classes taken off here?

Maybe because the shore handling and launching is more time consuming, awkward and off putting and they are somewhat longer than most dinghy clubs allow?

Edited by patj - 20 Feb 17 at 6:50am