Patent ID: 7520240
Filing Date: 2009-04-21
Classification: B63B

Abstract:
1. A cover assembly for a boat, wherein the boat has a front, a back, a length, and two sides, the boat further having side walls extending up from a floor of the boat on at least two lateral sides of the boat defining at least part of a protected area, the protected area corresponding to an open deck portion of the boat that can accommodate occupants of the boat during normal use of the boat, the one or more side walls are configured to prevent or substantially prevent windswept rain from passing through the side walls of the boat and into the protected area from a lateral direction, the cover assembly comprising: a cover having a front edge, a rear edge and two lateral side edges collectively defining the covering extent of the cover; a support frame for supporting the cover above the boat, the support frame configured to allow the cover to be moved between a raised position and a lowered position, wherein, in the lowered position, the two lateral sides of the cover are lowered to be adjacent to a top end of a corresponding side wall on each of the least two lateral sides of the boat such that windswept rain is prevented or substantially prevented from entering the at least part of the protected area between the cover and the corresponding side walls, and in the raised position, the cover is suspended above the floor sufficiently far so that occupants of the boat can move about there under; the support frame having one or more elongated laterally rigid support members positioned along each of two lateral sides of the boat, each of the one or more elongated laterally rigid support members are part of, or fixed to, the support frame in both the raised position and lowered position and traverse from a coupling end toward the cover, wherein the coupling end of each of the elongated laterally rigid support members is configured to be rotatably coupled relative to the boat about a rotational axis, wherein each of the one or more elongated laterally rigid support members are configured to rotate about the corresponding rotation axis and remain laterally rigid when the cover is moved between the raised position and the lowered position; and the support frame further configured such that the entire front edge of the cover is movable in a lengthwise direction relative to the rear edge of the cover to shorten the covering extent of the cover assembly in the lengthwise direction when moving from an extended position to a retracted position.