Patent ID: 7918173

Claim:
A personal watercraft comprising: a hull; a sub-deck disposed on the hull, the hull and sub-deck together forming a hull and sub-deck (HSD) assembly; an engine disposed in the HSD assembly; a propulsion system connected to the hull and operatively connected to the engine; a deck disposed above the sub-deck, the deck having a pedestal; a straddle seat disposed on the pedestal; a helm assembly operatively connected to the propulsion system and disposed at least in part forwardly of the straddle seat; a suspension member having a first end pivotally connected to the deck and a second end pivotally connected to the HSD assembly, such that the HSD assembly is movable relative to the deck between a topped-out position and a bottomed-out position, the topped-out position being the position where the deck is furthest from the sub-deck, the bottomed-out position being the position where the deck is closest to the sub-deck, the suspension member having a fixed length; a suspension element connected between any two of the deck, the HSD assembly, and the suspension member, the suspension element including a spring assembly, the spring assembly having a first portion having a first spring rate and a second portion having a second spring rate, the second spring rate being greater than the first spring rate, movement of the HSD assembly from the topped-out position to the bottomed-out position resulting in the suspension element moving through a full stroke of the suspension element; a lifting device associated with the spring assembly for moving the deck relative to the sub-deck; and a controller associated with the lifting device, the controller controlling the lifting device to set an initial distance between the deck and the sub-deck to one of a first distance and a second distance, the second distance being greater than the first distance, such that: when the controller controls the lifting device to set the initial distance between the deck and the sub-deck to be the first distance, the suspension element moves through a majority of the full stroke with the first portion of the spring assembly at least partially expanded, and when the controller controls the lifting device to set the initial distance between the deck and the sub-deck to be the second distance, the suspension element moves through a majority of the full stroke with the first portion of the spring assembly fully compressed.