Gap in the market?

Although it seems we have more than enough dinghy classes to meet every need, we're frequently asked on here for a boat that cna be single or double handed, mostly used for cruising and family joy rides.  It needs to be light and it needs to be plastic.

Remember when boats, like the mirror, had two mast positions for such use, and didn't the 420 also have this capacity?  From what I cant tell there isn't such a boat being pushed out at the moment, so should there be,a nd what would the criteria be?

Perhaps:

Moveable mast for single or double handing, jib or no jib
Small and manageable - say no more than 14ft (just over 4m)
Rotomoulded, for pulling up the beach
trolley that comes with a jockey wheel as standard - makes an amazing difference
outbard bracket and rowlocks
Simple dinghy design, ie bermudan rig, minimal fuss
reefable mainsail
room for the hamper
cheap!

Such boats do exist - look at ther ecently reviewed crabber, but not everyone wants that sort of traditional feel/design, they want something that looks like a bog standard family dinghy.

Any thoughts?

There's a Zoom sitting on a combi in our drive which ticks quite a few of those boxes - two mast positions for single handed or doublehanded with trapeze, simple design, grp, haven't measured its length yet but similar to a Laser and definitely cheap. Age unknown (seventies? eighties?) but the two rigs idea has obviously been around for a while. 

Edited by patj - 08 May 12 at 7:13am

I think Nessa is really asking if there is scope for a new design given the amount of times this sort of boat has been asked for on the forum, rather than what sort of existing boat would suit....

Light and Rotomoulded don't go together.
Virtually any of the GRP versions of 60's dinghies would meet the needs.
Things like Enterprises can be sailed singlehanded very well, they will also take a small family.
It's not hard to tack a transom sheeted boat with a jib single handed.
That's what some people used to do years ago, teach their kids to sail or sail with the family on Saturdays and a race on Sundays.
I really don't see a gap in the market. For those who must buy new, the Vago seems Ok, there is the Topper Magno range, the Wanderer etc etc, even excluding things like the Ent as being expensive due to being class-race biased.

Originally posted by simonrh It was trying to address the single handed / double handed question that led me to buying a Dart 18. Will actually get to sail it double handed for the first time on saturday after having owned it for well over a year.