I thought I would build a little boat for testing some different sailing rigs, the bad news in testing is that not always does the boat perform well and some adjustments such as mast placement or keel location can not be chanced . I based the hull shape on classic sharpie which allowed fast building, I have stayed within the footy class spec. rules for size , A larger keel trunk to allow fore and aft movement of 2.5", A drop in mast step rail that will allow fore, aft,rake adjustments. A turtle deck just because I like the looks of it, and a wide top deck /spray rail. I’ve been working on a linear winch that will use a small servo and a rack and pinon set up. 
Looking good Jim.
Sounds like a good science project, keep us all appraised of your results.
I am envious. I would be doing something this myself but lately I don’t have the time to even sail very often. Oh well, I’ll get my thrills keeping tabs on you!
Best of luck!
Thanks Niel, I spent a bit of time working on the mast step made from .032" aluminum sheet and 1/4" square aluminum tube. a series of holes drilled 1/8" apart for locating the foot and held in place with a simple paper clip. the top is kept in place with 1/4" styrene tube glued to cover, this will later be fastened by screws. I have tried to keep the assembly as light as possible, and I will build a number of covers to adjust rake. A removable keel has been roughed out and installed as well as rudder post and rough rudder.
A little more work done, completed keel and bulb using plaster cast /epoxy,lead shot process. a mild beaver tail design allowed thin/wide profile,the rudder has a small foil to hopefully reduce submarine effect on down wind runs. hull has been sealed and primed to find CLR and best location for servos (trim). 
Hey Jim,
I think you’ll find that the foil on the rudder will only cause drag as the the boat sails bow down anyway. At least that is my experience when I tried the same thing with rudder foils of two different areas on my Bantams. They actually tripped the test boat even more bow down than without the foils because they slowed the hull so that it couldn’t match the wind speed. The Bantam without the foil rudder dusted the test boat in all wind strengths.
Also, I think I would have mounted your bulb vertically. Footies pitch and yaw and change attitudes so rapidly that any end plate advantage (such as that you would find in the A class) would be far outweighed by the drag caused by the flat aft section fishtailing through the footy’s gyrations. Mounting the bulb shape you have vertically would probably reduce that drag considerably.
The boat looks great and these are just my observations so don’t let them derail you. I wish you luck with your experiments!
Thanks Niel, for your input and wisdom and I am recasting a new keel bulb and rudder. the bulb will be the same shape ,but turned on edge as you mentioned. I installed servos I picked up at the local hobby shop made by Emax.these are metal geared and have high torque for there size. a plastic resealable container has been cut down and installed in top deck for quick access to radio and switch. 
Jim, thats one cute rudder linkage!
I have managed to get the hull painted and new rudder and keel still being worked on. I started working on rig that allows a number of configurations, mast and boom sections screw into 2-56 threaded rod and aluminum tube allowing different lengths . mast rake can be adjusted and rig can even be used as a swing rig by threading jib spirit into front section. 
