Abstract:
A boat rack for use with a pick-up truck that will facilitate positioning and support of a small boat over the bed of the truck and onto the truck cab; the rack is inexpensive, lightweight and easy to assemble, disassemble and to put on or to remove from a pick-up truck bed; whereby a small boat placed on the rack and vehicle cab is readily tied down and secured in place while leaving sufficient clearance in the truck bed to permit positioning of one or more land vehicles in the truck bed to be transported simultaneously with the boat.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    Not Applicable. 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    Not Applicable. 
       REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX 
       [0003]    Not Applicable. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
       [0004]    This invention relates to structures used to facilitate simultaneous transport of boats and land vehicles on pick-up trucks. 
         [0005]    Many types of boat haulers have been used with vehicles to transport small boats, such as small fishing hard walled craft, inflated rafts, and inflated pontoon-type float boats simultaneously with the transport of land vehicles. Frequently, known boat and land vehicle haulers comprise a trailer to be towed behind a vehicle and to carry both a boat and a land vehicle. It has also been common to position various types of racks on the tops of station wagons, van type vehicles and pick-up trucks to provide a boat support structure. 
         [0006]    The same pick-up truck used for hauling a small boat on an irregular or infrequent basis is also often used on a daily or regular basis for hauling other items, or even as just a personnel hauling, every day, means of transportation. Consequently, it is highly desirable that any structure used with the truck to make the truck suitable for transporting a boat be easily assembled to be compactly stored in the truck when the vehicle is being used for other purposes. The support rack not only must be easily assembled and disassembled, but must take up only a minimum space in the truck bed when stored so that the truck can still be used to carry other cargo, including one or more land vehicles. 
         [0007]    Pick-up trucks have often been used to carry small boats with the bow or stem of the boat inserted into the pick-up bed and moved to be against the vehicle cab. The other end of the boat then often projects from the rear of the truck bed. With the boat in the pick-up bed there is very little room for anything else to be carried in the bed. It is, therefore, desirable to have a boat support structure for use with pick-up trucks that will allow for carrying of a small boat while still leaving the pick-up bed available to receive other cargo to be transported. More particularly, the boat support structure should be capable of carrying a small boat while allowing the truck bed to still carry one or more land vehicles, such as all terrain vehicles (ATV), and bicycles. 
         [0008]    Pick-up trucks come in many configurations. The boat carrying structure for pick-up trucks should be usable with as many different pick-up truck configurations as possible. Thus the carrying structure should be usable for pick-up trucks having different sizes of truck beds and different cab arrangements. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    Objects of the Invention 
         [0010]    A principal object of the present invention is to provide a boat rack for use with a wide variety of pick-up truck configurations without disrupting the capability of the truck to carry one or more land vehicles and/or other cargo in the truck bed while a boat is simultaneously carried on the rack. 
         [0011]    Another object is to provide a boat rack for use with pick-up trucks having long beds, short beds, single cabs, double cabs, or crew cabs. 
         [0012]    Still another object is to provide a boat rack that is readily assembled to fit a pick-up truck bed and that is easily disassembled for storage when not installed for use in a truck bed. 
         [0013]    Principal Features of the Invention 
         [0014]    Principal features of the invention include a readily assembled and disassembled support frame that can be assembled to fit into pick-up truck beds of different lengths and widths. 
         [0015]    Another feature is in the use of tubular telescoping support, legs, side rails and spacer members; and diagonal braces. 
         [0016]    Additional objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following drawings and detailed description. 
     
    
     
       THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]    In the Drawings: 
           [0018]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a pick-up truck with a boat rack of the invention mounted in the truck bed, and a lightweight inflatable boat carried by the rack and the truck; 
           [0019]      FIG. 2 , a perspective view of the assembled rack of the invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 3 , a rear elevation view of a pick-up truck with a small boat on the rack of the invention, the rack being mounted in the truck bed and with an all terrain vehicle also positioned in the truck bed; 
           [0021]      FIG. 4 , a view like that of  FIG. 3  showing a land vehicle, i.e., a bicycle, positioned in the truck bed; and 
           [0022]      FIG. 5 , a perspective view of the disassembled rack of the invention, including a storage bag for the disassembled rack components. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0023]    Referring now to the Drawings 
         [0024]    In the illustrated preferred embodiment of the invention, the boat rack, shown generally at  10  includes a pair of rear support legs  12  and  14 ; a pair of side supports  16  and  18 ; a pair of spacer members  20  and  22 ; and a pair of diagonal braces  24  and  26 . 
         [0025]    The rear support legs, diagonal side supports, spacer members and diagonal braces, when disassembled are all, together with the necessary connecting members, storable in an elongate bag  28  ( FIG. 5 ). Bag  28  has a closed end  30  and an opposite end  32  with a drawstring  34  in a hem  36  that surrounds an opening  38  in the opposite end  32  of the bag. A conventional string lock (not shown) may be used on the drawstring  34  to releasably hold the drawstring in a pulled position, closing the opening  38  at end  32  of the bag and can be moved on the drawstring to increase the size of the opening  38 . Alternatively, the ends of drawstring  34  can be pulled together and tied to close the opening  38 . 
         [0026]    Boat rack  10  is assembled on the bed  40  of a pick-up truck  42  by respectively positioning rear support legs  12  and  14  to be upright in opposite rear corners  44  and  46  of the bed  40 . The rear support legs  12  and  14  are each formed from telescoping pole lengths  48  and  50  and have caps  52  and  54  on the ends of the formed poles. The inner telescoping lengths  48  may have conventional spring biased detents  56  projecting through the wall of the pole length to extend through a selected hole  58  of a series of holes  58  in the wall of the outer telescoping length  60  to fix the overall length of the rear support legs at a selected length. 
         [0027]    The side supports  16  and  18 , like the rear legs are preferably formed from telescoping inner pole lengths  60  and outer pole lengths  62 . End caps  64  and  66  are respectively provided at opposite ends of the assembled side supports. Also, as with the rear legs, the telescoping lengths of the side supports preferably include conventional spring detents  56  projecting through the walls of the inner telescoping pole lengths  60  to snap through a selected hole  58  of a plurality of holes  58  through the outer telescoping pole length  62  to set the overall lengths of the side supports  16  and  18 . 
         [0028]    Spacer members  20  and  22  are each preferably formed as telescoping inner lengths of tubing  70  and outer receiving lengths of tubing  71  having closed ends  72  and with threaded studs  74  projecting from the ends of spacer  20 . Threaded studs  76  project from the ends of spacer  22 . As with the rear legs and side supports, the spacer members include conventional spring detents  56  to extend through the walls of the inner tubing lengths  76  and selected holes  58  of a series of holes  58  through the walls of outer lengths  71  to lock the inner and outer lengths of tubing together. 
         [0029]    Diagonal braces  24  and  26  are elongate bars, preferably having a rectangular cross-sectional configuration. A plurality of holes  80  are spaced along and extend through the braces  24  and  26  to allow the braces to accommodate the selected overall length of the boat rack  10 , as will be further hereinafter explained. 
         [0030]    When the boat rack is assembled for use with the bed of a pick-up truck one end of each of the side supports is secured to an upper end of a rear support leg, with bolts, as shown at  90 , inserted through selected holes through the end of the end legs  12  and  14 , and corresponding holes through the ends of the side supports  16  and  18 . Wing nuts  92 , threaded onto bolts  90  hold the connected ends of the legs and the side supports together. 
         [0031]    Spacer member  20  is set to desired length and is positioned to extend between the ends of side supports  16  and  18  not connected to the rear support legs. The threaded studs  76  are inserted through holes in the ends of the side supports and wing nuts  92  are threaded onto the studs to secure the space  20  to the side supports. 
         [0032]    Spacer member  22  is set to desired length and is positioned to extend between the ends of side supports  16  and  18 . Studs  76  extend through holes in the side supports and holes in the rear legs. The spacer member  22  is secured in place by using nuts  92  threaded onto the studs. 
         [0033]    A diagonal brace  24 ,is secured between each rear legs and the side supports attached thereto. Bolts  90  are inserted through selected holes in the ends of the diagonal braces and the outer telescoping lengths of the side supports. The side supports extend downwardly from the upper ends of the rear legs when the legs are positioned in the rear corners  44  and  46  of the truck bed to place the spacer  20  and the attached ends of the side supports at the bottom front of the truck bed. 
         [0034]    When the boat rack  10  is positioned in the bed  40  of a truck  42 , the lengths of the rear legs are adjusted to place the spacer member  22  at or close to the height of the top  84  of the cab  86  of the truck  42 . 
         [0035]    A boat  90  is positioned to have one end of the boat resting on spacer  22  and the other end on the top  84  of cab  86 . 
         [0036]    Tie down straps  96  are passed over the boat and have their ends connected to anchors (not shown) provided therefore in the trucks. The tie down straps, which may be resilient or non-resilient, secure the boat  90  to the spacer member  22  and the top  84  of the cab  86 . 
         [0037]    With the boat rack and boat so positioned, the tailgate  98  of the truck can be lowered and one or more land vehicles can be positioned in the truck bed, between the side supports. For example, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4  a bicycle  100  can be positioned in the truck bed, either between the side supports of the rack, or outside the rack and astraddle a rear wheel well  102  of the truck  42 . 
         [0038]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , an all terrain vehicle  104  can be positioned on the truck bed and between the side supports of the rack  10 . 
         [0039]    It will be apparent that more than one land vehicle, i.e., a pair of bicycles or a pair of motorcycles can also be positioned beneath a boat and between the side supports, if desired. 
         [0040]    Although a preferred embodiment of our invention has been herein described, it is to be understood that the present disclosure is by way of example and that variations are possible without departing from the subject matter coming within the scope of the following claims, which subject matter we regard as our invention.