Neat Singlehanded Keelboat from UK

[Doug Lord]

This seems like a very interesting boat: http://www.k1sailing.com/id1.html
from the website:
"The K1 is a 4.5m (15ft) high performance keelboat for single-handed sailing and racing. It combines a light, narrow hull with a 60kg bulb keel to create a fast, compact single-hander with the sailing qualities of a small keelboat.

It is designed to sail heeled so that the bulb weight provides righting moment and hence contributes to sail carrying power and potential speed as well as reducing the likelihood of capsize. In gusts the stability of the K1 increases as it heels, ensuring a smooth sailing motion."

Length 4.57m (15ft)
Beam 1.22m (4ft)
Hull weight 45kg (99lb)
Keel weight 60kg (132lb)
Sailing weight 125kg (275lb)+crew
Sail area 11sqm (118.4 sq.ft.)
Designer Paul Handley

[ancient kayaker]

That's a pretty boat, although I'm not sure it gains much from the weighted bulb on the daggerboard: it provides some righting moment but only when the boat heels. The picture in your post shows the boat sailing level and another picture on the web site shows the crew hiking out and providing perhaps 80% of the RM. The weight of the bulb would also make it harder to raise the centerboard (if that's the correct term when it is ballasted) to reduce tripping or death roll tendencies downwind IMHO.

However it's a slick looking hull and seems reasonably priced for what looks like a quality product.

[Chris Ostlind]

It's counter-productive to add dead weight to a small boat, such as this one, unless you are also going to go for the benefits of a really skinny hull. Why add appendage drag and weight without going for a more efficient hullform?

The skinny hull lifting bulb keel is a pretty neat idea as a counter point to all the potato chip performance dinghies out there already.

[BeauVrolyk]

I have been waiting for someone to build a canter of about this size. Imagine a 15 to 18 foot boat with about 150 pounds in the bulb. You have block and tackle to cant the keel and don't need to worry about water-tight integrity, as it's a sealed dingy hull anyway. I would think a small planing canter would be a gigantic amount of FUN!!

[Doug Lord]

Take a look at this... http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/18-canting-keel-single-doublehander-17349.html

[Doug Lord]

Apparently 30 of these have been sold since earlier this year. Note that the boat is designed to sail at an angle of heel and not flat like a "normal" dinghy. Here is a video and a fleet picture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDn4Jxvb820&feature=player_embedded

picture by Miles Handley/click on image:

[ancient kayaker]

Perhaps the rotational inertia of the heavy daggerboard gives the crew more time to change sides?

[Sail IC]

It's counter-productive to add dead weight to a small boat, such as this one, unless you are also going to go for the benefits of a really skinny hull. Why add appendage drag and weight without going for a more efficient hullform?

The skinny hull lifting bulb keel is a pretty neat idea as a counter point to all the potato chip performance dinghies out there already.

I agree with your point on ballast on a small boat. But this boat is quite narrow at only 4 feet (1,22m). If the hull shape is similar to the bigger RS K6 (same designer), then the hull topsides are failry flaired giving a narrower waterline to its beam, maybe at around 3 feet.

[Doug Lord]

Read what they say under "Faqs" on the website-the original url is dead-this is the new one: http://www.k1sailing.com/index.html
This boat is designed to sail with an angle of heel-it is not designed to sail flat like an unballasted dinghy. It has semi-circular sections and a very narrow waterline beam for its length.

click on image then again on resulting image: