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Dragon Powerboats
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DRAGON POWERBOATS PRESIDENT CRAIG BARRIE
believes the market will embrace another 39' high-performance monohull. He feels so strongly about it that he's invested a couple of years of this life — and from all appearances, a significant sum of money — working on the first Dragon Powerboat. The new model was set to debut shortly after the Miami International Boat Show.
"I looked at the market and I said, 'Is there room for another high-performance monohull?'" Barrie said. "I said, 'I believe there's a market if somebody can create a boat that is different — totally non–me–too from beginning to end.' And I came up with the slogan, 'The performance boat you were promised.' Then I back–tracked and said, 'OK, how can I deliver that?'"
Barrie and Dragon vice president Scott Smith assembled an A–team, if you will, with experience in design, engineering, construction and materials.
After Barrie designed the boat, he needed someone with experience in five–axis milling to cut the plugs for the hull and deck and other components. He turned to Doug Wright of NDL Wright in Melbourne, Fla., to machine the foam plugs from which all molds would be made.
"The first thing I want to do is have it cut on a five–axis machine by somebody who is very, very knowledgeable in boats and performance boats so I have, at least, the perfect boat to start with," Barrie said."That perfection starts with the plug and goes to the molds. And my molds truly are ... perfect."
Wright said the stringer system will be foam coring capped with carbon fiber for stiffness.
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He added that they used multidirectional fabrics to accommodate the loads and stresses that are inevitable in offshore applications.
The transom will be made from okume wood, a dense Brazilian mahogany with excellent memory characteristics, Wright said. It's the only wood used in the boat. He added that they could have gone with a solid carbon–fiber transom, which would alleviate concern over water penetration, but that was cost prohibitive.
"It's going to be a well–built boat that will still come in extremely light," Wright said, adding that the target weight was 7,500 pounds. "Weight's a big factor with Mark Bishop. He designs everything around structural integrity as well as shaving off as many pounds as possible."
A native New Zealander, Bishop said his experience building sailing and power yachts for pleasure and racing applications —including offshore catamarans and V–bottoms— was the reason he was chosen to direct the boat's structural engineering and lamination ingredients.
Epoxy resin, Kevlar, carbon–fiber, E–glass hybrids and knitted fiberglass cloth. Though all of it is off–the–shelf stuff —albeit off the top shelf— Bishop chose materials that would be readily available.
"It employs far more advanced fabrics," Bishop said. "By that, I don't mean that it has to be carbon or Kevlar. We're not, for example, using chopped strand mat or woven roving."
Bishop noted that the hull uses a Kevlar and E–glass hybrid woven material in conjunction with a linear foam coring. Carbon fiber is used for stiffness in places, but only where it was necessary.
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"It's not just a case of putting it in for the sake of using it," he said. "There's a sound engineering justification for putting it in rather than just quickly putting some in so you can say it's in the boat."
Using exotic fabric and cloths requires experience. The same goes for the epoxy resin systems Dragon is using. Philip Mead, who also is from New Zealand and has collaborated with Bishop on other projects, has been designing and building boats for more than 15 years.
"When you use an epoxy resin, it'll cure in eight to 12 hours and it will be hard, and you can continue building the boat," Mead said. "But it'll never reach its full cure until you post–cure the boat to an elevated temperature of 160–degrees Fahrenheit for 48 hours. You end up with a very stable, very hard finish."
That's what's inside. On the outside, the Dragon measures 39' long, 8'6" wide, with two conservative steps. The forward–most step measures 1–inch tall. The aft step is half–inch. Four strakes run through all running surfaces and stagger outward with each step. The keel is sharp all the way back, and the transom is flat, with no notch. Barrie noted that aerating the hull was not as important as balance and center of gravity.
"They're very, very small steps, because the idea is to get the weight distributed right," Barrie said.
Barrie said he designed the Dragon to accommodate a canopy and has kept APBA Offshore apprised of what he's doing with the boat. If all goes according to plan, Barrie said he would like to have enough boats in the field so that homologation for Factory 2 racing would be complete in time for the 2003 season.
According to Barrie, the windshild is designed to withstand a 180-mph impact. Safety and comfort – even for rear passengers– were high on Barrie's list when designing the Dragon. In pleasure boat form, the Dragon is a sit–down boat, with a windshild and side "curtains" to protect rear–seat occupants from wind.
"In a normal boat, the wind is blowing in their faces. They're hanging on and that's it," Barrie said, adding that Recaro custom–designed the seats. "And maybe for 15 minutes, it's fun. Maybe for 30 minutes, it's fun. But if you're on a poker run and you're running for half the day, sooner or later that wind, sun and spray get to you."
All rigging will be done by Mercury Racing's Lake X facility. Naturally, all power choices will come from Big Black, with proprietary custom tailpipes from CMI. It's these kinds of details, the A–team he has assembled, Barrie said, that experienced boats will notice. That , he hopes, will translate to sales. Prices start at $385,000, Barrie said.
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"There is a better way of building these boats," Barrie said. "And for the performance–boat connoisseur, the performance–boat client who has expertise in the field, or someone who's had a few boats will be able to see the difference. What I want to bring is that next level
of a boat. It doesn't replace anything that's already out there. It doesn't really compete with anything that's out there except on the client level, not on the boat level."—Brett Becker
Top: Fitted with two mild steps, the Dragon will have okume wood — a dense Brazilian mahogany with excellent memory characteristics — in its transom. Center: To achieve the level of quality it was aiming for, Dragon used a five-axis router to cut plugs for all its molds. Bottom: The boat also comes with a windshield built as part of the deck, and is purportedly able to withstand a 180-mph impact.
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