DANCER is a 12 foot dink. She is, to be exact, 12 feet 1 inch in length over all; has a beam of 3 feet 9 inches; and draws when light just 4 inches of water. The freeboard at the stem is 1 foot 6 inches, at the stern 1 foot 2 inches, while the least freeboard is 11 inches. It will be seen thus that she is an able kind of boat and should be equal to carrying three passengers in perfect safety. The beam has been kept under 4 feet because this feature will make the boat easy to row, as it permits easy lines and eliminates considerable weight as well.
Boats of the flat bottom type are not at all satisfactory if they are heavily built; they not only row hard, but in rough water are wet and difficult to manage. Another thing to avoid in a flat bottom boat is a full water line forward. Boats of the latter model slap and pound when it is rough, and pull very hard. If the boat must be full forward by all means build it with a square bow like a punt so that the water will flow under the hull, and not around and under as it does with a bow like the bow end of an electric iron.
Having had a skiff built very much like the one shown in the design herewith I can vouch for the performance of Dancer if she is used with an outboard motor, for a little motor of the twin cylinder type will propel the boat at a speed of over 7 miles an hour, which is rather faster than the majority of small boats of her kind.
The construction will begin with the laying down of the lines. Unless a small boat is built exactly like the plans it is an eyesore, and for the very fact that the boat is small, unusual care should be taken in the laying down process; the making of the forms and their setting up. Half an inch more or less will not show badly in a big boat; but in small craft, ah, that is another matter.
The boat should be supplied with a 10 pound kedge anchor having folding stock, at least 100 feet of 3/8 inch diameter Manila rope, a wooden water scoop, a notch in the stern for sculling, and a 5/8 inch diameter painter 25 feet long to be used for a tow-line. It is a great mistake to go anywhere in any kind of boat without an anchor and line, and without a scoop. And if you have ever lost a dink through the painter letting go in rough water you will appreciate the 5/8 inch diameter new painter specified.
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