VEHICLE MOUNTED LAUNCH AND RETRIEVAL APPARATUS FOR A PERSONAL WATERCRAFT
Taught herein is a motor vehicle mounted apparatus for launching and retrieving a personal watercraft. The watercraft is transported on the apparatus, which in turn is mounted to the vehicle, to the edge of the body of water into which the watercraft is to be launched. The apparatus provides a means of sliding the watercraft down a ramp into the water for use, and moving it back up the ramp for transport and storage after use.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a launch and retrieval apparatus for a personal watercraft.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past two decades, personal watercrafts, which are small self-propelled vessels for one or two people, have become common place on lakes and waterways of developed countries. A personal watercraft may be viewed as the water borne equivalent of a motorcycle. The most popular personal watercrafts are propelled by high powered jets of water generated by pumps driven by small engines such as those marketed under the trademark, Jet Ski.
To prolong their life and minimize their maintenance, it is desirable to remove personal watercraft from the water when they are to be stored or not to be used immediately. Often they are stored on a dock at the body of water where they are used or transported to a protected area. However, personal watercrafts typically weigh over 400 pounds and require a lift or specially configured small boat trailer to remove them from the water. Watercraft lifts and trailers are well known in the art as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,184,913 and 6,637,975.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe personal watercraft launching and retrieving apparatus taught herein facilitates launching a personal watercraft from a flat bed vehicle, such as a pickup truck, into a body of water for use, and retrieving it back onto the vehicle from the water after use. The apparatus promotes rapid launching and retrieving while avoiding the inconvenience of towing and maneuvering a personal watercraft trailer. The present apparatus comprises:
-
- 1) a personal watercraft supporting, rectilinear assembly having two equal length, parallel rails, with two or more lateral cross braces affixing the spatial relation of the rails that are separated by a distance so that the two rails provide stable support for the watercraft, and having;
- 2) a ramp assembly comprised of one or more additional rectilinear, watercraft supporting subassemblies each having two equal lengths, parallel rails, separated by a distance substantially equal to the distance of separation of the support assembly, and having two or more lateral cross braces affixing the spatial relation of the rails;
- wherein the rails of the ramp of the watercraft-supporting assembly are attached by a pivoting means to the corresponding rails of the support assembly and, in turn, each ramp subassembly is attached by similar pivoting means to the subsequent ramp subassembly, and wherein the pivoting means may be locked in position to affix the relationship of each subassembly to its adjacent subassembly; and
- 3) a winching means to facilitate launching and retrieval of the watercraft.
The personal watercraft is typically for one or two people and it is jet powered. One example of such as a personal watercraft for which the present apparatus may be employed is the Jet Ski (trademark) watercraft. However, the apparatus may also be used for substantially any small boat, e.g., sailboats, rowboats, and the like, so long as it can safely fit on the apparatus's support assemble. The apparatus enables one person to launch and retrieve a personal watercraft and transport, store, and maintain that watercraft securely on the bed of a pick-up truck.
While this invention is susceptible to embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure of such embodiments is to be considered as an example of the principles and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described. In the description below, like reference numerals are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the several views of the drawings. This detailed description defines the meaning of the terms used herein and specifically describes embodiments in order for those skilled in the art to practice the invention.
The terms “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one or as more than one. The term “plurality”, as used herein, is defined as two or as more than two. The term “another”, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms “including” and/or “having”, as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term “coupled”, as used herein, is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.
Reference throughout this document to “one embodiment”, “certain embodiments”, “and an embodiment” or similar terms means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of such phrases or in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments without limitation.
The term “or” as used herein is to be interpreted as an inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, “A, B or C” means “any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B and C”. An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.
As use herein, small watercraft, watercraft, and personal watercraft are synonymous and mean a small, self propelled boat that typically is ridden by one or two people, and is exemplified by the Jet Ski (trademark) personal watercraft. The term, “body of water,” means any lake, pond, river, bay, gulf, sea, etc that can be navigated by a personal watercraft. The term “vehicle” means a land motor vehicle, e.g. a truck, capable of transporting the apparatus taught herein including a small watercraft attached to that apparatus. The term “bed” of a motor vehicle is synonymous with “cargo floor” whereupon cargo being carried by the vehicle is placed. “Launching” is the act of placing a personal watercraft into a body of water for use, and “retrieving” means removing a watercraft from the water.
The drawings featured in the figures are for the purpose of illustrating certain convenient embodiments of the personal watercraft launching and retrieving apparatus, and are not to be considered as limitation thereto. Term “means” preceding a present participle of an operation indicates a desired function for which there is one or more embodiments, i.e., one or more methods, devices, or apparatuses for achieving the desired function.
In
Support assembly 8 is comprised of two rails 16, substantially equal in length, attached by adjustable means 18 to a plurality of perpendicular cross ties 19 to form a
Each ramp subassembly 10a and 10b is constructed in an analogous manner as the support assembly 8. That is, each comprises two rails, 16a and 16b (16, 16a, and 16b are collectively referred to herein as “the rails 16”) respectively attached by adjustable means 18 to two or more perpendicular cross ties 19a and 19b that correspond to rails 16a and 16b. Likewise, 19, 19a, and 19b are collectively referred to herein as “the cross ties 19.” The subassemblies 10a and 10b are joined by a pivotal and locking means 12b, which is the same or similar to pivotal and locking means 12a to attach subassembly 10a to support assembly 8. Should more than two ramp subassemblies be employed, pivotal and locking means the same as, or similar to, 12b may be installed between each of the ramp subassemblies. The distance between rails 16a and 16b, respectively, corresponds to the distance between the rails 16a and 16b of the support assembly 8. The terminal ramp subassembly, i.e., subassembly 10b in
Ramp assembly 10 may be pivoted and locked at pivot means 12a with respect to the plane of the supporting assembly 8 to facilitate launching and retrieving. Likewise, the ramp subassemblies, such as 10a and 10b illustrated in
The winching means 14 (
As noted above, cross ties 19, 19a, and 19b are conveniently attached to the rails of support assembly 8 and ramp subassemblies 10a and 10b respectively by an adjustable means 18. Consequently, the distance between the rails may be adjusted to best accommodate the hull of any specific small watercraft as shown in
Any adjustable means of attachment taught in the art of small watercraft launching and retrieval apparatus may be employed. For example, the adjustable bracket depicted in
Conveniently, fastening means 34 is quick adjusting so that it can be quickly adjusted to allow rail 16 (a or b) to move inward or outward to the extent allowed by oval hole 30, and quickly adjusted to lock when one or both of rails 16a or 16b are the desired distance apart as shown in
Turning to the cross sectional view of
Again referring to
Apparatus 2 may be constructed of any materials used in the art for constructing boat and personal watercraft launching and retrieval means, such as metal, metal alloy, wood, polymers, fiberglass, composite materials or any combination thereof. Examples of metals include protected steel or steel alloy, e.g. stainless steel and aluminum. For example, hardware and connecting item might be metal while the rails might be treated wood or polymeric material. The choice of materials is governed by their cost in consideration of their durability in a harsh outdoor environment.
Watercraft launching and retrieving operations using apparatus 2 are illustrated in
Referring now to
Note that while
Prior to launching, after unlocking pivotal means 12a and 12b, ramp sub-assemblies 10a and 10b are folded down, as illustrated in
Retrieval is substantially the reverse of the procedure for launching. That is, the watercraft is maneuvered as close as possible to the point that ramp 10 enters the body of water 26 with its bow starting up ramp 10. While it is possible to manually push the watercraft up ramp 10, it is more convenient to attach cable 25 to the bow and pull it up onto support assembly 8 with winch 14 as is it typically done when loading a watercraft onto a trailer. When watercraft 20 is fully on the support assembly, in the transporting position as shown in
Claims
1-9. (canceled)
10. A vehicle mounted launching and retrieving apparatus for launching or retrieving a personal watercraft to or from a water based position comprising:
- a) a substantially rectangular watercraft supporting transport assembly having two substantially parallel rails, substantially equal in length, separated by a distance so that the two rails provide stable support for the watercraft, and having two or more lateral cross ties affixing the spatial relation of the rails, wherein the supporting transport assembly is designed to be mounted to a vehicle so that its rails are substantially parallel to the plane of the axles of the vehicle and the assembly can support the personal watercraft during transport;
- b) a substantially rectangular watercraft supporting ramp assembly comprised of a first and second ramp sub-assemblies each sub-assembly having two substantially parallel rails, substantially equal in length, separated by a distance substantially equal to the distance of separation of the transport assembly, and having two or more lateral cross ties affixing the spatial relation of the rails wherein: i. the rails of the first ramp sub-assembly are attached by a pivoting means to the corresponding rails of the transport assembly and, in turn, the second sub-assembly is attached by similar pivoting means to the first ramp sub-assembly; ii. the pivoting means between the transport assembly and the first ramp sub-assembly is at or near the rear of the vehicle so that the first and second sub-assemblies, may be pivoted below the plane of the transport assembly to form a ramp between the supporting transport assembly and the vehicle positioned in the water; and iii. the two pivoting means allow the first and second sub-assemblies to be folded upward to a position wherein the first sub-assembly is positioned essentially upright from the transport assembly and the second sub-assembly is folded downward from the first sub-assembly and secured during transport of a water vehicle.
11. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 10 wherein the pivoting means between the transport and ramp assemblies may be locked in position to affix the relationship of the transport assembly and the ramp assembly with the ramp assembly in an upright folded position.
12. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 10 wherein the pivoting means between the two ramp sub-assemblies may be locked in position to affix the relationship of the first and second ramp sub-assemblies.
13. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 10 wherein the vehicle is a truck having a substantially rectangular, flat bed, and the longitudinal axis of the first supporting assembly coincides with, or is parallel to, the longitudinal axis of the bed of the truck.
14. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 13 wherein the truck is a pick-up truck.
15. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 10 wherein the vehicle is a van.
16. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 10 further equipped with a means of winching a watercraft on and off of the apparatus.
17. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 16 wherein the means of winching is electrically actuated.
18. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 11 wherein when the truck is parked with its rear proximal to the water based position, the first and second ramp sub-assemblies may be pivoted downward and below the surface of the water to allow a watercraft to be winched from the water, up the sub-assemblies, and onto the transport assembly mounted on the bed of the truck.
19. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 10 constructed of metal, metal alloy, wood, fiberglass, polymers, composite material, or any a combination thereof.
20. The launching and retrieving apparatus of claim 10 wherein the ramp sub-assemblies are fastened together by a ramp fastening means when folded for transport.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 14, 2008
Publication Date: Feb 18, 2010
Inventor: George Whaley (Grifton, NC)
Application Number: 12/191,677
International Classification: B63C 3/08 (20060101);