Jet propulsion small boat

Abstract: The invention relates to a jet propulsion small boat comprising a deck member (3) and a hull member (2), both integrally formed from synthetic resin such as FRP and bonded with each other at their fringe portions with the deck member having bulwarks (8) formed at its fringe portions except at its stern end, a seat stand (5) and an operating handle stand (6) projectingly formed on the hull centre-line and decks (30, 33) formed on both sides of these stands, said bulwarks provide buoyancy spaces (30) formed within themselves to function as floats and, moreover, said bulwarks also have longitudinally extending containers (80, 90) formed within themselves with a respective opening formed at each of the rear end portions. A lid (88) with a watertight sealing structure is detachably associated to each of said openings.

Description: The invention relates to a jet propulsion boat boat comprising a deck member and a hull member, both integrally formed from synthetic resin such as FRP, and bonded with each other at their fringe portions. Such a boat enables also to make use of the boat for other activities such as fishing, leaving the boat drifting on the sea surface. Known from US-A-4 760 810 is a jet propulsion boat which is engined for gliding on the water surface like a motor-bike type jet propulsion boat. Such a jet propulsion boat is used for practising various motions such as slaloming, jumping, tricking, etc, while gliding at high speed on the water surface, driven through the power of the engine aboard. The boat is provided with seats on the hull centre line including, for example, a seat bench and an operating handle bar stand on its front portion in order to operate the boat by a rider sitting astride the seat with his feet placed on the decks on either side. Such a jet propulsion small boat is also frequently used as a fishing boat. Since the aforementioned jet propulsion boat practises various motions such as rapid turns while gliding on the water surface at high speed, it suffers a large inclining moment and will often be overturned. Accordingly, the boat hull is desired to have a large righting moment while being constructed compactly to obtain an excellent movability. On the other hand, a boat hull structure having a larger righting moment generally calls for a wider boat hull which, accordingly, implies poorer movability. Moreover, when such a boat is used as a fishing boat, a problem conventionally encountered is to provide storage space for long pieces of equipment such as fishing rods which are to be stored within a limited space in such a manner as not to form a hindrance for the users and to be safely placed so as not to be carried away by waves and so on. It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve a jet propulsion boat of the type indicated above in order to overcome the aforementioned problems in such a manner that a jet propulsion small boat is created which is convenient for various purposes, having excellent movability due to a compact structure, exhibiting a large righting moment sufficient for stabilised gliding and, finally, providing sufficient container spaces aboard adapted to be able to store preferably long goods such as fishing rods and facilities related thereto. In accordance with the present invention, the aforementioned object is achieved in that said deck member (3) comprises bulwarks (8) formed at the deck member's fringe portions except at its stern end, a seat stand (5) and an operating handle stand (6) projectingly formed on the hull centre line, and decks (30, 33) formed on both sides of these stands (5, 6), said bulwarks (8) defining buoyancy spaces (30) to function as floats, said bulwarks (8) comprising at least one longitudinally extending container (80, 90) with a respective opening at the rear end portion to allow access to the internal space of the container (80, 90), said rear opening detachably mounts a lid (88) with a watertight structure. Due to the above-mentioned structure of the boat, not only an excellent stability for various motions of the boat can be obtained since buoyancy spaces with large buoyancy are formed by the bulwarks, but also long goods such as fishing rods can safely be stored since one or a plurality of elongated container spaces are formed inside the bulwarks. According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, said bulwarks extending longitudinally at both sides of the boat each provide a longitudinal extending container as an integral part thereof, thus providing a pair of longitudinally extending containers inside the side bulwarks of the boat, each having a respective opening formed at each of the bulwarks rear end portions and the respective lid with a watertight structure detachably mounted on each of said openings, respectively. In order to combine large buoyancy capabilities with the provision of appropriate storage space simply defined therein, said bularks form buoyancy spaces receiving longitudinally extending partition walls which are preferably horizontally orientated to separate said container space for receiving the fishing rods or the like above said partition wall adapted to define the container. According to another advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the insertion of partition walls could be prevented by means of a pipe member which forms a container by means of its elongated interior tubular space, said pipe member being disposed in the upper portion of one or both longitudinally extending buoyancy spaces formed by the bulwarks with a lid having a watertight structure being detachably mounted on the rear end portion of the pipe member in order to sealingly close the tube at its rear end, respectively. In case a tube member is provided to establish a container, it is preferred that said pipe member is fixed on the interior surface of the associated bulwark through a pair of U-shaped fasteners, respectively. supplementarily or alternatively, another advantageous fixing assembly can be established by filling up the space around the pipe member with foamed plastic. Incidentally, the separated container space may also serve to form a tank to be filled with water after overturning of the boat, if such an introduction of water can assist righting of the boat. Further objects, features and objectives of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the jet propulsion small boat according to the present invention by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig 1 is a perspective view of a boat hull showing an embodiment of the present invention; Fig 2 is a cross-sectional view of the boat as shown in Fig 1; and Fig 3 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention. In Figs 1 and 2, the boat hull 1 is composed of a hull member 2 and a deck member both integrally formed from synthetic resin such as FRP and bonded with each other at their fringe portions, respectively. The portion surrounded by the hull member 2 and the deck members is designed to form a hermetically sealed space to define a displacement volume. The hull member 2 has a bottom plate, 20 and side plates 22 and the deck member provides a seat stand 5 projectingly formed at its centre portion, rising portions 31 formed at its fringes except at its stern end with their upper end portions folded back as back-folded portions 33, the lower end portions of which are put upon and bonded with the upper end portions of the hull side plates 22 to form bonded portions 23. In between (inside) the rising portions 31, their back-folded portions 33 and the hull side plates 22, buoyancy spaces 30 are formed comprised of hermetically sealed spaces, and bulwarks 8 are established defining said buoyancy spaces 30. According to Figs 1 and 2, there are longitudinally extending horizontal partition walls 81 received within these buoyancy spaces 30 to form container 80 above said partition walls inside the bulwarks for containing fishing rods 11 or the like. At the rear end portions of these bulwarks 8 are formed access openings to said containers 80, each of said openings being provided with a lid 88 detachably mounted thereto and provided in turn with a watertight structure to sealingly close the associated opening. The deck member implies a seat stand 5 and an operating handle stand 6 projectingly formed on the hull centre line. Between the bulwarks and these stands 5, 6 and both sides of these stands are formed decks 3 with open stern ends and continued to each other at the bow portion to form a single plane. The operating handle stand 6 supports an operating handle 60 and a seat 50, preferably forming a seat bench and a seat 51 is formed on the rear and front portions of the seat stand 5, respectively. Preferably integrally with decks 3 near the rear end portions of the decks 3 are formed footings 35 enabling the driver to keep his feet against them while gliding at a high speed. Of course, such footrests are not obligatory or could have other structures, for example, such footings could provide to adjust their height variably. Beneath the operating handle stand 6 and the seat stand 5 is formed an engine room 12 in which an engine (not shown) and other components of the boat's driving means are received, said engine rotates a propeller (not shown) to suck in water through a water suction opening at the hull bottom and inject it backwards in a desired direction through a water passage and then through a horizontally swingable nozzle at the stern of the boat to produce a propelling force and a turning force, respectively. Even though not shown in the drawings, the upper container providing interior spaces 80 to receive fishing rods and the like therein could also be provided separated from the remaining buoyancy space to form a separable part of the bulwarks 8, i.e. the container 80 as shown in Fig 2 could form separate hollow profile members piled up on the lower bulwark portion and fixed thereon by suitable fasteners so that one or both containers 80 could be separated from the body of the boat. Of course, the buoyancy spaces 30 would then be closed by an upper cover plate, namely, a back-folded portion 33 of the deck member to provide an airtightly sealed buoyancy space 30 defined by the corresponding bulwarks 8, respectively. Normally however, the integral structure of the container 80, 90 separated from the continuous bulwarks 8, as shown in Figs 1 to 3, is preferred. Fig 3 shows another embodiment of the invention. While the main portions of the boat hull 1 and also the bulwarks 8 with the buoyancy spaces 30 formed by rising walls 31, back-folded portions 33 and boat hull side plates 22 remain the same and are structured in the same way as shown in the above-mentioned first embodiment according to Figs 1 and 2, in this case a pipe member 9 forming a container 90 by means of its elongated interior space is disposed in the upper portion of preferably each buoyancy space 30 allowing to refrain from a separate partition wall. Even though not shown in the drawing, a lid 88 with a watertight sealing structure as shown in Fig 1 is provided on the rear end portion of this pipe member 9, detachably mounted thereon. This pipe member 9 is fixed on the inside surface of the bulwarks 8 through a pair of U-shaped fasteners 91 and the space around the pipe member 9 is filled up by foamed plastic. Occasionally, separate fasteners could be dispensable and the porous structure of the foamed plastic could prove to be sufficient to fix the pipe member 9. Although the attached drawings show embodiments with containers 80 or 90 formed in bulwarks on both sides of the boat, such a container 80, 90 may of course readily be formed in one bulwark 8 on either side only. With the above-mentioned construction, since the bulwarks 8 on both sides of the boat hull have buoyancy spaces 80 having a large buoyancy, the boat according to this invention has a large righting moment and exhibits an excellent stability for various movements while gliding, even when the boat suffers a large inclining moment due to a rapid turn. On the other hand, although fishing rods are stored in the container 80 or 90 while gliding normally, the bulwarks 8 can effectively function as floats because the container 80 or 90 is hermetically closed by a lid 88 with a watertight structure so that water may not come into the container. Further, if the boat hull 1 is overturned by 180°, the boat hull 1 can easily be righted by opening either of the lids 88 and introducing water into the related container 80 or 90 to reduce its buoyancy. The container 80 or 90 is not a hindrance to riders moving on board since it is formed within the original boat hull structure and will not project out of the boat hull, and there is no fear that fishing rods or the like should be carried away even when waves dash over the boat hull. It is because the structure is simple and also advantageous for strength that the opening and the lid 88 for the container 80 or 90 are provided at the rear end portion of the bulwarks. That is to say, it is because forming the opening of the container on the top or side of the bulwarks not only lengthens the opening making its structure intricate but also makes it difficult to obtain a watertight structure and weakens the bulwarks. According to this invention, while excellent stability can be exhibited for various since the buoyancy spaces with large buoyancy are formed by bulwarks formed at the fringes of the boat hull composed of a hull member and a deck member, long goods such as fishing rods or the like can be safely stored since elongated container spaces are provided within bulwarks, as described above.

Claims: A jet propulsion boat comprising a deck member and a hull member, both integrally formed from synthetic resin such as FRP, and bonded with each other at their fringe portions, said deck member (3) comprises bulwarks (8) formed at the deck member's fringe portions except at its stern end, a seat stand (5) and an operating handle stand (6) projectingly formed on the hull centre line, and decks formed on both sides of these stands (5, 6), said bulwarks (8) defining buoyancy spaces (30) to function as floats, characterized in that said bulwarks (8) define left and right longitudinally extending containers (80, 90) with a respective opening at the rear end portion to allow access to the internal space of the container (80, 90), said rear opening detachably mounts a lid (88) with a watertight structure. A jet propulsion boat as claimed in claim 1, characterized in tha t said bulwarks (8) have longitudinally extending containers (80, 90) formed as an integral part of the bulwarks (8). A jet propulsion boat as claimed in claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said bulwarks (8) form buoyancy spaces receiving longitudinally extending partition walls (81), preferably orientated horizontally, above which are formed said containers (80). A jet propulsion boat as claimed in at least one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a pipe member (9) forming a container (19) by its elongated interior space is disposed in the upper portion of at least one of said buoyancy spaces (30) with a lid (88) with a watertight structure being detachably mounted on the rear end portion of this pipe member (9). A jet propulsion boat as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that said pipe member (9) is fixed on the interior surface of the bulwarks (8) through a pair of U-shaped fasteners (91), respectively. A jet propulsion boat as claimed in claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the space around the pipe member (9) is filled up with a foam plastic. A jet propulsion boat as claimed in at least one of the preceding claims 1 to 6, characterized in that containers (80, 90) are adapted to store long goods, preferably fishing rods and/or facilities related thereto.

Inventors: KOBAYASHI NOBORU, KOBAYASHI, NOBORU
Applicants: YAMAHA MOTOR CO LTD, YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1989
Main classification: B63B35
IPC codes: B63B35, B63B11, B63B17