cutting an iron keel aside, I continue to be intrigued by the concept that all other things being equal, a shoal draft 285 will outperform a deep keel model when the wind starts to move aft of the beam. At this point, and as the wind moves further aft, I believe that keel lift turns to keel drag, and so the shoal draft boat, with less drag, should be somewhat faster. Of course, the opposite would be true going on any point of sail upwind. I base this theory on my experience as a one-design racer in years gone by. In those boats, as soon as you rounded the downwind mark, you immediately raised the drop keel/daggerboard to reduce drag as you were less concerned with leeway going downwind and wanted to reduce wetted surface area. The same theory should hold true for keel boats. I know the idea that a shoal draft boat may be faster than a similarly equipped and sailed deep keel boat going downwind drives the deep keelers nuts... The additional 100 lbs of disp in the shoal boat is, IMHO, inconsequential as most boats have hundreds of extra pounds of people and gear aboard anyway.But I do agree with the other posters that making this kind of modification will enhance your difficulities in selling such a boat when and if that time ever comes.