A water going vessel, which may be a mono hull-type vessel or a multihull-type vessel has a hull which is divided lengthwise into a row or rows of individual hull sections. Each hull section is pivoted along its outer edge to an outer edge of a deck frame of the vessel. The hull sections can be swung upwardly and out of the water individually for inspection and treatment without substantially affecting the buoyancy of the vessel as a whole. The entire hull can be inspected and treated, without having to pull the vessel from the water, by lifting the individual hull sections in sequence.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to multi-section hull structures for water craft 
ranging from small boats to larger ocean-going vessels. 
Except for small trailerable vessels, substantially all boats and ships 
need to be hauled from the water on a regular basis for inspection and/or 
treatment of the hull such as scraping repair or painting. This is a 
generally time-consuming and expensive exercise, which is particularly 
burdensome to private boat owners. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the invention to provide a water going vessel having a 
novel form of hull structure which obviates the need for removing the 
vessel as a whole from the water to inspect and treat the hull. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a hull structure for a vessel 
which has separate sections that can be removed from the water 
individually for inspection and/or treatment, without substantially 
affecting the overall buoyancy of the vessel. 
In accordance with the invention therefore, a water going vessel includes a 
deck frame and a hull structure attached to and extending below the deck 
frame, the hull structure comprising a plurality of individual hull 
sections located end to end lengthwise of the deck frame, each hull 
section being pivotally connected along an outer edge portion thereof to 
an outer edge portion of the deck frame, for swinging the hull section 
from a water-going position up and out of the water, and the hull 
structure further having releasable attachment means between inner edge 
portions of the respective hull sections and inboard portions of the deck 
frame for securing the hull sections to the deck frame in the water-going 
position. 
With the above arrangement, the hull sections can be swung out of the water 
individually for inspection and/or treatment, by suitable lifting means, 
without having to remove the entire vessel from the water and without 
substantially affecting the buoyancy of the vessel as a whole. The entire 
hull can thus be treated by lifting the hull sections individually in 
sequence. 
The inventive hull structure is applicable to a wide range of water-going 
vessels from small boats to larger sea-going vessels and can be used on 
both mono-hull and multi-hull vessels. In the case of a mono-hull vessel, 
the individual hull sections may conveniently be arranged in port and 
starboard rows which, in the water-going position are substantially 
contiguous along the longitudinal center line of the vessel. 
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from 
the ensuing description and claims read in conjunction with the attached 
drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring initially to FIGS. 1-6, there is shown an assembly 10 for a 
catamaran-type vessel comprising a substantially rectangular deck frame 13 
and port and starboard hull structures 14, 16. The deck frame and hull 
structures may be formed in any conventional boat building material such 
as wood, fiberglass or metal and typically the deck frame will be covered 
by a deck and superstructure not shown. The illustrated assembly is 
suitable for use in both sailing craft and powered vessels. 
The deck frame 12 comprises an upper rectangular framework of box-type 
longitudinal girders 17 connected to similar fore and aft cross girders 
18. The girders may have mitred corners with reinforcing inserts 20 as 
shown in FIG. 6. The deck frame further comprises lower lengthwise 
box-type girders 22, 24, 26, 28 welded or otherwise secured to the upper 
girders. 
Each of the hull structures 14 and 16 comprises a row of individual 
substantially contiguous buoyant hull sections 14a-14e and 16a-16e 
extending fore to aft of the deck frame. The outer edges of the respective 
hull sections are connected by pairs of hinges 30 to the respective outer 
girders 22 and 28 of the deck frame and the inner edges of the respective 
hull sections are releasably connected by pairs of releasable attachments 
32 to the respective inner girders 24 and 26 of the deck frame. The 
attachments 32 may, for example, comprise angle member and bolt connectors 
or the like. The arrangement is such that by release of the relevant 
attachments 32, any one of the hull sections can be pivoted upwardly and 
outwardly from a water-going position of the structure (shown in full line 
in FIG. 3 and on the left in FIG. 5) to an inspection and treating 
position (shown in dotted line in FIG. 3 and one the right in FIG. 5). 
Thus, the hull sections can be raised individually out of the water for 
inspection and treatment without substantially affecting the overall 
buoyancy of the vessel. 
As shown in the drawings, the individual hull sections are each of a hollow 
water-tight construction, but other constructions may also be utilized. 
FIGS. 7 to 11 show a deck frame and hull assembly 40 for a mono-hull type 
vessel. The deck frame in this embodiment comprises outer lengthwise 
box-section frame members 42 with connecting fore and aft box section 
frame members 44 and an integrated base board 46. The hull structure 
comprises port and starboard rows of individual buoyant hull sections 
48a-48e and 50a-50e. As in the previous embodiment, outer edges of the 
respective hull sections are connected by pairs of hinges 52 to the outer 
frame member 42 and inner edges of the respective hull sections have 
releasable attachments to inboard portions of the baseboard 46. The 
attachments may, as shown, comprises bolts 54 welded or otherwise secured 
to the respective hull sections, which fasten with nuts 56 to the 
baseboard. As shown in FIG. 10, the baseboard may include a sealing gasket 
58 and welded plate 60 with apertures 62 through which the bolts are 
passed. Again, the assembly may be made of conventional boat building 
materials. As previously, upon release of the relevant attachments, the 
respective hull sections can be lifted out of the water individually as 
shown in FIGS. 9 and 11 for inspection and/or treatment. 
FIGS. 12 to 15 show a deck frame and hull assembly 70 for a larger 
ocean-going catamaran-type vessel having a deck frame similar to that of 
the first embodiment with an upper framework having longitudinal 
box-section girders 72 and 74 and fore and aft lateral girders 76 and 78. 
Again, the deck frame has lower longitudinal box-section girders 80, 82, 
84 and 86. The hull structure comprises a port row of individual buoyant 
hull-sections 88a-88e and a starboard row of individual buoyant hull 
sections 90a-90e. (Only certain of the hull sections are shown in the 
drawings.) In order to interconnect and stabilize the respective 
individual sections of each of the port and starboard hull structures when 
the vessel is under way, each of these structures is provided with a 
tensionable cable system as will now be described. Reference will be made 
only to the starboard hull structure but it is understood that the port 
hull structure has a like system. 
The hull sections 90b-90d have apertures 92 in their respective end plates 
94 and flanged tubes 96 are welded inside the hull sections to the 
opposite end plates around the apertures, so that the water tight nature 
of the hull sections is maintained. The fore and aft hull sections have 
aligned apertures 96 in one end plate 97, such apertures being surrounded 
internally of the respective hull section by a sealing gasket 98 and 
flange 100 bonded or otherwise secured to the interior of the respective 
end plate. A plurality of apertures 102 in the flanges and gaskets (four 
in the illustrated embodiment, but the number can be varied) allows an 
equivalent number of tensioning cables 104 with end bolts 106 secured 
thereto to be extended through all of the tubes 96 and fastened and 
tensioned at each end. To this end, each cable bolt 106 carries a threaded 
sleeve 10, packing material 110 in a surrounding threaded sleeve 112 and a 
tensioning nut 114. The arrangement prevents water which may seep between 
the hull sections from penetrating into the interior of the hull sections. 
When the vessel is under way, the cables 104 are tensioned so as to 
interconnect and stabilize the hull sections. When it is required to raise 
the hull sections, as in the previous embodiments for inspection and/or 
treatment, however, the cables can be removed, by removal of the 
tensioning assemblies at each end. To obtain access to the forward and aft 
hull sections, for this purpose, each of these hull sections is provided 
with a hatch 116. For raising and lowering the hull sections, as in the 
previous embodiments, they are connected to the outer girders 80, 86 by 
hinges 118 and to the inner girders 82, 84 by releasable attachments 120. 
While only preferred embodiments of the invention have been described 
herein in detail, the invention is not limited thereby and modifications 
can be made within the scope of the attached claims.