The Herring Skiff was designed by Ira Einsteen and is a good-looking dory-style skiff. The free plans disappeared from the www but luckily someone made them available again to share and build.
Ira Einsteen calls it a dory-skiff himself, and it is very much like a dory in appearance in large part due to the sheerline. You get a sheerline like this when you keep the upper planks, or in this design, the upper or side panel, equal in width throughout its length and design in some topside flare. If there is no flare the sheer will not sweep upwards like you see here or in the dory. As soon as you add the flare, though, your sheerline sweeps skyward. The more flare, the more upsweep. I have a good bit of flare in this design, hence the prominent sheer.
A nice bonus of flare is increased reserve stability, one of the attributes that make dories tender but seaworthy. I wouldn’t describe this skiff as tender, but it’s not as rock-solid as a flat bottom would be.
