Research & Development

The design and development of the Good Dog focused on three crucial areas:

I. Hull Design - The goal was to develop a hull with exceptional glide and tracking capabilities, stability for stand-up casting while fishing and plenty of room for gear.

II. Material Engineering - The goal was to develop a combination of materials that would result in the Good Dog being one of the lightest boats in the 10 foot hull class while still having exceptional strength and stiffness.

III. Fabrication Process - The goal was to develop a hull fabrication process that would produce strong, stiff and light hulls with consistently high quality.

I. Good Dog Boat – Hull Design

Proven Heritage

To develop the Good Dog hull shape we first conducted extensive research of small boat historical records. We identified a boat from the early 1900’s, called the Lawton 10, as an excellent match with our hull design goals.

We selected the Lawton 10 as the hull design platform for the Good Dog because of both theoretical and practical reasons.

Good Dog Cedarstrip Prototype

From a theoretical standpoint, the hull has fine entry and exit lines which minimize drag due to wave generation. Also, the fully curved hull shape minimizes the wetted surface area of the hull in the water to approximately 20 square feet which significantly reduces water resistance drag.

From a practical standpoint, the Lawton 10 hull shape has been extensively tested in real world conditions along the rugged New England coast. It proved to be a popular wooden rowing boat and fishing boat, and was one of renowned boat builder Charles Lawton’s most requested models.

The actual development of the Good Dog hull design went through a series of steps which began with the Lawton 10 hull dimensions on paper, progressed to computer aided development work and culminated in a prototype hull made out of strips of cedar wood encased in fiberglass.

II. Good Dog Boat – Material Engineering

Sandwich Kevlar Composite Construction

The goal was to develop a combination of materials that would result in the Good Dog being one of the lightest boats in the 10 foot hull class while still having exceptional strength and stiffness.

To achieve this goal we were committed to using high quality materials throughout the construction process. We were also committed to doing extensive theoretical analysis and practical testing of material combinations to determine the best material schedule for the Good Dog performance goals.

Good Dog 10 Hull Materials

The result of this work is a woven fiberglass/Kevlar/infusion core composite hull design that minimizes weight and maximizes strength and stiffness. This composite hull design consists of a sandwich construction method where the high-grade fiberglass cloth and Kevlar fabric are the outer layers of the sandwich and a special material called SORIC infusion core, is the inner layer of the sandwich.

The primary role of the fiberglass and Kevlar materials is to make the hull strong in both compression and tension and the primary role of the infusion core is to make the hull stiff and thereby minimizes drag producing hull flexing while in the water.

III. Good Dog Boat – Process Development

Vacuum Infusion

The goal was to develop a hull fabrication process that would produce strong, stiff and light hulls with consistently high quality.

Through extensive process research, we identified a relatively new type of vacuum infusion technology as an excellent method for making Good Dog hulls. Using the vacuum infusion process, high quality Kevlar and fiberglass are placed in the Good Dog mold “dry” under a vacuum bag. A vacuum is established and special purpose vinylester resin is drawn into the fabric.

Vacuum Infusion in Process

Using this technique an effective clamping force of over 110,000 lbs is applied to the Good Dog hull which enables the infusion of just the right amount of resin. This process maximizes the strength to weight characteristics of the hull. This method is also very repeatable producing hulls of consistent high quality. The infusion technology used by Good Dog Boats is very new, having been developed within the last 10 years.