Ships – Boats – boat component – or attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-08
2003-06-24
Sotelo, Jesus D. (Department: 3617)
Ships
Boats, boat component, or attachment
C114S347000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06581538
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated safety accessory arrangement and components for users of personal watercraft such as kayaks, both closed hull and sit-on-top versions, as well as canoes, catamarans and similar craft.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The provided safety features may be grouped as follows: hydration systems, navigation and communications systems, and hull pumping enhancements for closed-hull use including storage of portable manual pumps.
Personal hydration has been determined to be a critical safety factor for the full array of outdoor aerobic type sports, which includes personal watercraft paddling. An effective system should provide adequate fluid quantity, ease of access while underway, a hygienic configuration, and accommodate a variety of contemporary containers and reservoirs.
Navigation and communication are critical safety concerns for touring coastal and inland paddlers. Each paddler should be equipped with an efficient array of safety system features to reduce risks of events ranging from inconvenience to potential life threatening scenarios. Sea kayakers and those using large inland water bodies, are frequently exposed to dense fog and storms. Tidal influences are also a concern. Navigation and communication gear is necessary for safety. Currently, this gear includes: a good quality liquid filled marine compass, a GPS electronic navigation unit, a VHF receiver transmitter, an FRS radio receiver, a cell phone, and related evolving gear. Ideally, this gear must be easily accessible while underway, secured to the craft, and storable and retrievable and operable with ease.
A convenient method of pumping with the spray skirt in place, preferably with one hand, can greatly enhance safety. Personal watercraft are often used on waters where capsize self recovery may be a matter of survival. In any event, paddlers are expected to be self reliant and capable of self rescue. The most common problem in skirted cockpit closed hull watercraft such as kayaks, is that manual pumping of the flooded hull requires at least partial removal of the spray skirt to insert the pump into the hull. This compromises safety since in severe weather, storm water may enter through the skirt opening faster than it can be removed with the pump. Since emergency pumping is comparatively rare, most of the time the pump can be stored below deck in a secure location, thereby allowing other uses of the critical accessible foredeck space.
Numerous outdoor sports equipment manufacturers, such as Camelback, Blackburn, and Ultimate, provide personal hydration systems featuring flexible reservoirs and attached flexible drinking tubes. Their primary market is cyclists. These sources also provide a variety of reservoir containment packs, which include shoulder straps enabling users to carry the reservoirs on their backs and enjoy continuous access to fluids via the integral drinking tubes routed over their shoulders.
None have reservoir containment products tailored to the personal watercraft industry where the containment is installed and carried within the craft hulls.
The conventional backpack reservoir results in avoidable stress for paddlers and interferes with nominal paddling torso rotation.
The backpack configuration raises the paddler's center of gravity and reduces watercraft roll stability.
The backpack configuration conflicts with most PFD flotation devices worn by personal watercraft boaters.
The backpack style gear also presents added risks of entanglement with watercraft appurtenances during self rescue operations.
None of the kayak industry manufacturers provide internal or external features that accommodate the popular flexible reservoir hydration systems with attached flexible drinking tubes, such as used by practitioners of other outdoor sports.
None feature hull port openings for routing these drinking tubes or associated methods of sealing such openings.
Several contemporary kayak manufacturers have included molded hull deformations to accommodate securing beverage containers.
These depressions are an inch or less in depth and provide inadequate container stability.
Further, they expose virtually the whole container to sun and weather such that content temperatures are unmanaged.
Several marine supply firms market a plastic cup like beverage holder that is placed into a matching deck or other flat surface opening on watercraft.
None feature an open bottom permitting passage of a manual pump shaft.
None are designed to be integrated in a concentric installation within a system of hatch fitting safety accessories.
None have companion storage options.
None have rims slotted to recess accessory and hatch cover tethers.
None have internal non slip surface treatment to better secure beverage containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,213 (2000) Stevens, features a kayak beverage holder system integrated on the surface of the foredeck in the deck elastics. The position of this installation precludes practical concurrent use of a foredeck access hatch with or without an accessory system, significantly obstructs popular deck bags, fully exposes the beverages to sun and weather, and has no integrated system for the internal hull storage of the beverages. The recited objective of the Stevens patent is to serve beverage containers in the form of standard 12 ounce aluminum cans or slightly smaller. Larger containers are poorly served or not compatible. Prior art references and comments in the Stevens patent apply to the present invention.
Several contemporary kayak manufacturers have included molded hull platforms to accommodate after-market addition of liquid compasses.
In every case, these are situated forward of the kayaker to enable viewing the compass, however, they are all too far forward for physical access by the kayaker while underway.
None feature alternate storage for the compasses and none are designed to accommodate other kayaker accessible accessories.
Several contemporary kayak manufacturers have included standard or optional closed hull plastic access hatches with screw-in covers and pervious internal nylon fabric accessory bags. These round hatches are generally those having diameters of 12 inches or less and are not those normally provided for storage of large items and gear. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,246,859 (1981) and 4,280,434 (1981), Beckerer, are examples. These small hull access hatches provide hull interior physical access to enable attaching nuts and washers to external accessories and features such as rails for foot pedals, deck elastic anchorages, carry handles, paddle tether anchorages, and the like. When fitted with an internal fabric bag, they are also used for the secondary purpose of providing storage for miscellaneous small items such as keys, snacks, and the like.
These hatches and covers, with and without internal bags, are provided industry wide by firms such as Beckson Marine Inc, and Viking Mfg. Company.
The accessory bags are all water pervious and therefore provide no protection for contents from bilge water.
When the hatch cover and features are integrated into a watercraft safety system, rapid one handed manipulation is critical. Ideally, the threaded cover should release in one quarter to one half turn.
The common hatch cover thread requires several full revolutions to release the cover.
The common plastic screw-in covers include molded finger depressions to allow engagement for screwing off and on.
These depressions are shallow and are difficult to use with cold fingers and or gloved hands.
None provide alternate covers accommodating internal hydration reservoirs or integral ports for access and sealing of flexible drinking tubes attached to these reservoirs.
None feature screw or other covers adapted to serve hydration, navigation, communication, or manual pump operation.
None of the available screw in hatch covers are fitted with tethers and therefore they are easily lost overboard. In storm and rough water conditions, loss of a hatch cover may result in swa
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