You'll obviously want something with a retractable
keel to go that shallow. Some things to keep in mind as you think about which
boats would
work for you:
1) Swing
keel vs
centerboard. A
centerboard is lightweight, all it does is provide lateral resistance when sailing, easy to move up and down by hand, ballast on centerboard
boats is generally in the low part of the
hull often in a "stub" keel (our Nimble 20 -
for sale BTW ;-) draws 11" with centerboard up), bonus is if the centerboard bolt fails and the board falls off you haven't
lost your ballast and might not immediately
capsize. Swing keel is like a centerboard but very heavy, it provides the lateral resistance of a centerboard but is also the source of all (or most) of the ballast for that
hull, more
work to raise and lower because of weight and presumably a little more strain on the surrounding
equipment (pivot bolt, raising line etc). Both swing keel and centerboard will swing up if you hit a shallow obstruction, although if it's a solid obstruction can still damage the centerboard.
2) Don't see as many lifting keels out there, they move straight up and down instead of pivoting, they do not pop up if you hit something shallow it's just like hitting with a fixed keel
boat.
3) One thing to look out for is if the
rudder is pop-up as well... most (but it seems not all) swing keel / centerboard boats have pop-up rudders as well, because otherwise you lose the benefit of the
shallow draft if your
rudder is still 3' in the
water.