Patent ID: 8894342

Claim:
An automatically retractable boat ramp assembly for use in combination with a boat lift and an adjacent boat dock structure, which boat lift includes a lift platform for supporting a boat thereon adjacent to the boat dock structure and a drive mechanism for selectively raising the lift platform to lift the boat out of a body of water and lowering the lift platform to introduce the boat into the body of water, said boat ramp assembly comprising: a ramp having a first end for pivotally attaching to the dock structure and an opposite second end for engaging the boat supported by the boat lift when the lift platform is raised and the boat is lifted out of the body of water; a support post attached to and extending upwardly from the dock structure; a pulley rotatably attached to said support post; and an elongate ramp actuating cable for interconnecting said ramp and the lift platform; said ramp actuating cable being operatively engaged with said pulley, whereby raising the lift platform with a boat supported thereon drives said ramp actuating cable in a first direction about said pulley to pivotally lower said ramp until said second end of said ramp engages the boat and lowering the lift platform with a boat supported thereon drives said ramp actuating cable in an opposite second direction about said pulley to pivotally raise said ramp and disengage said ramp from the boat.