flat everything
Well, this thread has been quiet for less than 2 weeks, so I'll jump in. A long time ago I sent emails to the AYRS mailing list, but I haven't had much of a internet sailing fix since.
Really nothing is fundamentally new in sailboats, but advancements in knowledge and developments in one area are still changing the best solutions in others. I don't know if this will be the case for your boat, but maybe.
I would suggest taking advantage of the experts on this forum. Doing that makes the design part of the boat safer and easier and can improve performance and lower cost. But having said that I'll give some non-expert advice.
- You need some way to get the sail out downwind. A jib boom mounted to the deck does sound good.
- Stick to a design with no complex curves. This makes it easier to lay out panels that will smoothly come together on your frames.
- You have been told that your rig will be no good upwind and no good down wind. I think it's worth trying. I might suggest adding a roller furling staysail. On a long tack in lighter wind it could be worth the effort to hoist. In heavy air you could furl the jib and just use the staysail, or use a scrap of each. Does kind of conflict with adding a jib-boom though.
- I have always thought that long and thin was interesting. If you double the length, but don't change the beam, it seems to me you can go the speed of a longer boat with less sail area to work and pay for. If you are designing for single-handing, you don't need a lot of room below. Wide sterns are great downwind, but I think that kind of boat is a little intense for general sailing. I think you want to maximize speed per dollar, not speed for a given waterline length.
- I'm wondering if a very narrow hull could be combined with a canting keel. Forget about form stability and like a moth, depend on moving the weight to windward. I sort of think of a single catamaran hull, but with the keel bulb to windward, not a second hull. If the beam is narrow enough, hull speed is much less of a limit, so you could maybe reduce the length of the design.
Canting keels are of course more complicated and more work. You might want to do a form of roll tacking to reduce the work. Let the boat heel a lot by slowly releasing the keel, then at the extreme heel re-lock the keel and tack. A canting keel and a very narrow hull would never get stuck upside-down either. Another advantage? You can tune the heel angle to reduce pounding and to let gravity help shape the sails in very light winds.
I don't know about shallow water and putting the boat on the sand at low tide. You might be able to tilt the bulb all the way over and settle with the keel flat on the sand and hull tilted. Not great for sleeping at low tide, unless your bed tilts too. A deep keel would be nice, but a canting keel that you can raise for sailing in shallow water? An opportunity for innovation.
- I would not go with straight sides, but maybe flat top and bottoms. A V-bottom might not make that much difference in a very narrow hull, but some angle on the sides will at least look better, people will admire your boat and you will be prouder of it. Of course if it really is very narrow, maybe vertical sides will look fine.
For tight, or busy waters I'd reduce sail, lock the keel in the middle and leave the sail self tending. For longer distances I'd power the boat up more and enjoy the speed.