Good Dog Overview

Good Dog boats are versatile lightweight fishing boats for catching big fish in small water environments. They have been specifically engineered to be a high-performance alternative to jon boats, canoes and kayaks. On land - Your Good Dog is designed to be easy to store, transport and launch. On the water - Your Good Dog can be motored, rowed or paddled. It can be outfitted as a highly functional solo fishing rig or as a fully-geared two person fishing machine.

RIG YOUR WAY EACH DAY… WITH A GOOD DOG

You have substantial versatility to quickly outfit your Good Dog to best match how YOU want to fish. Quickly remove or install webbed or swivel seats, remove or install fishing platforms with snap-in and snap-out cup holders and rod holders, remove or install an electric trolling motor and battery box, anchor lock system, downrigger, fishfinder electronics and deck mounted rod holders. This functionality enables you to vary your Good Dog rigging from an extremely light, 65lbs, solo row trolling platform to a fully-geared dual swivel seat electric motored fishing machine.

PERFORMANCE HULL

Intensive research and development has gone into your Good Dog hull design. The three key components to your Good Dog hull design are, shape, materials and structure.

The shape of your Good Dog hull minimizes wetted surface area to reduce drag and provide excellent glide characteristics when rowing, paddling or electric motor trolling. Your Good Dog’s hull shape tracks exceptionally well with a keel that runs from stem to stern. Also, Good Dog’s 45inch beam provides “stand-up to cast” stability and is the reason your Good Dog is substantially more stable than a 36inch wide canoe. In addition, the curvature of the hull sides enables the Good Dog to ride choppy water conditions much better than a typical flat-sided jon boat and makes it very seaworthy.

In terms of materials, your Good Dog hull is constructed with a high-grade vinylester resin and layers of Kevlar, fiberglass and a special vacuum infusion core material. These materials are formed into the shape of your Good Dog hull using a leading edge vacuum infusion process. With these materials and our proprietary manufacturing process your hull is the lightest in its size class and much quieter than an aluminum-constructed jon boat.

In terms of structure, your Good Dog is constructed with a 5 component box beam skeleton and an advanced composite skin that gives your hull stiffness while still being lightweight, without the need for thwarts or cross-bracing as done for canoes. Limiting the flex in your Good Dog’s hull substantially enhances its ability to glide through the water.

MOTOR, ROW or PADDLE

You can power your Good Dog by means that best match how you plan to fish. Your Good Dog boat performs exceptionally well with an electric trolling motor or when rowed, but also moves well with a gas outboard or when paddled.

With an electric motor, your Good Dog has an integrated electric motor system to quickly and cleanly install an electric motor and battery. This system includes a removable bow mounted battery box and platform located just in-front of the bow seat, hidden wiring harness, and plug-in connectors for your transom mounted electric motor. With the battery located in the bow section of your boat, your Good Dog stays trim in the water even with a solo fisherman sitting on the stern seat.

For row trolling or for maneuvering to your favorite fishing spot, your Good Dog rows very well. Its low drag hull shape and full keel give you a smooth glide between strokes and solid tracking performance. 7.5foot spoon-bladed oars work very well for row trolling and 7.0 foot oars work nicely for maneuvering.

You also can power your Good Dog with an outboard gas motor. A 2hp outboard motor will move a solo fisherman at approximately 7mph in calm conditions. We recommend the Honda 4-stroke 2 horsepower motor that has a 1 liter built-in fuel tank and an idle clutch mechanism. Just clamp the motor on the transom and you get hours of operation out of this fuel efficient motor. Also, with the idle clutch, a solo fisherman can easily run the motor with a tiller extension from the center seat location.

For maneuvering in tight spots such as among productive fishing structure like logs and weed beds, paddling your Good Dog works very well. We recommend a 60inch paddle since your Good Dog’s 45inch beam is wider than a typical 36inch canoe beam.

FLOTATION

Your Good Dog boat has built-in bow and stern flotation compartments that exceed the U.S. Coast Guard smallcraft requirements for flotation. This provides a substantial measure of safety in the event your Good Dog is swamped with water. In contrast, canoes, kayaks and inflatable boats are exempt from these requirements.

ON LAND

Your Good Dog has been designed to be easy to handle on land. At only 65lbs with three webbed seats installed, your Good Dog is the lightest in its size class. One of our key design criteria was to make your Good Dog truly light enough to cartop or truckbed.

You can easily cartop your Good Dog upside down on a standard sport rack such as made by Yakima or Thule. To facilitate offloading from a cartop, truckbed or boat rack we coat your Good Dog’s gunnels, transom and keel with Speedliner urethane that is the toughest in the industry. This allows you to slide your Good Dog off the rear of your vehicle right onto an asphalt parking lot without damaging your boat’s finish. To transport your Good Dog from the parking lot to the shoreline we recommend a simple single axel two-wheeled canoe/kayak style dolly. Davis Instruments makes an excellent dolly that is lightweight, easy to set-up and has large 15inch pneumatic tires. It will travel over most rough terrain that you will encounter along your path to the shoreline.

If you prefer to trailer your God Dog there are several manufacturers that make excellent trailers sized for our boats. As an example, Trailex makes an excellent aluminum frame trailer that weighs only 125lbs and has a special suspension system that eliminates “road bounce” that can occur when trailering lightweight boats like your Good Dog. Using a trailer is an excellent way to launch your Good Dog when you have it fully-rigged as a fishing machine (e.g. with electric motor, battery, swivel seats, rod holders, cup holders, fishing platform, anchor system and your personal tackle and gear).

Also keep in mind, if you want to cartop and fish fully rigged,you can car top the boat (only 60lbs. unrigged), carry your gear in your vehicle and upon arival with our quick-change system you can be fully rigged within ten to fifteen minutes.

ALTERNATIVE TO JON BOATS, CANOES AND KAYAKS

The Good Dog boat was developed as an innovative alternative to typical jon boats, fishing canoes and fishing kayaks. Your Good Dog boat is truly unique, there is no other boat like it on the market. To see a summary of how a Good Dog boat compares with jon boats, canoes and kayaks please click on the link below.

Jon Boat, Canoe, Kayak Comparison