Patent ID: 7255617
Filing Date: 2007-08-14
Classification: B63B,B63C,B63H,F01N

Abstract:
1. A personal watercraft comprising a vessel body having an intake port formed in a bottom portion thereof, a water jet propeller operatively attached to the vessel body, an engine mounted in the vessel body, and an exhaust system for the engine, wherein the exhaust system comprises: a muffler; an exhaust pipe connected to the muffler; and an exhaust port, wherein the exhaust pipe extends upwardly from the muffler a short distance and then curves to extend downwardly so as to be formed into a substantially inverted U-shape, wherein during operation of the engine, an exhaust gas in the muffler passes through the inverted U-shaped exhaust pipe and is discharged from the personal watercraft through the exhaust port; wherein the muffler is disposed on a first side of the vessel body, and the exhaust port is disposed on a second side of the vessel body opposite the first side; wherein the second side of the vessel body has a water-receiving space formed therein which is capable of taking in water, the water-receiving space being submersible under water when the personal watercraft is in an overturned state; wherein the watercraft operates by drawing in water through the intake port and expelling the drawn-in water outwardly through the water jet propeller; wherein said first and second sides are lateral sides of the vessel body; wherein the watercraft is rotatable about an axis extending in a longitudinal direction thereof; and wherein a portion of the first side of the vessel body, symmetrically corresponding to the water-receiving space, has a buoyant material stored therein so that if the watercraft becomes capsized in a body of water, the vessel body will stabilize in an inclined orientation with the first side of the vehicle body oriented higher than the second side thereof.